


Accidentally Mine

by NikiZreads



Category: Draco Malfoy - Fandom, Dramione - Fandom, Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Hermione - Fandom
Genre: Community: dramione_remix, Drapple (Harry Potter), F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-15
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-06 18:14:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 16
Words: 45,220
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26483245
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NikiZreads/pseuds/NikiZreads
Summary: Draco wants to avoid an arranged marriage and Hermione doesn't want to pay for his statue that she ran over. Can she and Draco come to an agreement that helps them both?This story takes place outside the HP universe, but the character names and personalities are the same.
Relationships: Hermione Granger/Draco Malfoy
Comments: 29
Kudos: 77
Collections: Draco and Hermione for ever, Harry Potter





	1. One

**Author's Note:**

> I do not own these characters Please enjoy and please leave critiques I would love to know what I could improve on

Hermione sat in her hot car that was parked under a large tree in the park while waiting for her last delivery request of the day to come in. She was tired and was tempted to just drive home but her graduation road trip she'd been dreaming of since 8th grade was only a few months away and she only had a third of the money she needed. "Yeah, but you can just pick up an extra delivery tomorrow" she said aloud as she rested her sticky forehead on the steering wheel of her car. No, that wont work; you have to do your physics project tomorrow." She thought to herself as she mentally cursed her parents for making her do this. Hermione sat up and changed her expression to imitate her mothers and did her best impression of her. "If we're to trust you to go galloping around the country without adult super vision you need to prove that you're responsible enough to do so." she relaxed her shoulders and swiped her hand across her forehead as she sulked at the mess she'd gotten herself into. She would not have agreed so quickly if she had known that her parents meant that she had to get a job and pay for the trip herself. Hermione was just about to reach into her bag and get a head start of her reading homework when she heard her phone go off. "Finally!" She exclaimed as she snatched it up from the passenger seat. "Perfect, this address is only a couple minutes from my house." Hermione said to herself as she quickly turned the key in the ignition and peeled out of the shady parking spot, she had been sitting in. Hermione sprung out of her car eager to get this job over with so he could go home and read the book she had been itching to dive into all week. "Pick up for Hermione." She said in the most cheerful voice she could muster as she approached the counter of the bagel shop the door still swinging in her wake. "Coming out right now" Said a cute but awkward looking boy with dark hair who gave her a crooked smile. Hermione instantly recognized him as one of her long-time school friends. "Oh, hello Neville, I didn't know you worked here." She said pleasantly smiling at him over the plexiglass that separated the customers from the food. Neville ginned and moved down the counter preparing her order as he spoke. "yeah, I just started last week, once I found out how much prom tickets are. I mean ninety dollars a ticket that's almost two hundred for two." He said with a dry chuckle. "Not all of us have Malfoy money.” The two gave each other a knowing look and Hermione let out a snort of understanding as Neville continued down the counter. “But I wanna make prom night special for Luna so it's worth it." He finished with a grin holding out a brown paper bag in her direction. Hermione's heart melted a bit at his words "Well Luna is a very lucky girl, but I'm sure she already knows that." She said reaching for the bag in his hands. "Nah I'm the lucky one." He said with a sparkle in his eyes. Hermione smiled the first genuine smile that she had all day as she listened to Neville talk about Luna. "Have a good evening Neville." She said as she turned to leave. "You too Hermione!" She heard him call from over the counter. She looked back and waved before the door swung shut and then began to head back to her car. I could only dream of Ron speaking about me as sweetly as Neville does Luna. She thought with a sigh as ducked into her car. She had just closed her door and buckled herself in when she felt her phone vibrating. Speak of the devil She thought to herself as she answered the call. "Hi Ron!" She chirped feeling giddy, as she connected her phone to her car speaker and placed it in her cup holder. "Hey Mione" Ron said his voice sounding deep and groggy over the phone. It made Hermione's stomach do somersaults when he sounded like this. "Are you still at work" He said as she heard him shuffling around his room. Hermione could not help but feel disappointed, nowadays it seemed that all her boyfriend wanted to do was call her to yell at her for working instead of actually having a conversation. "Yeah I'm doing my last delivery and then I'm heading home. Why do you ask" She answered turning out of the parking lot and onto the main road. She heard Ron mumble something under his breath and grunt and she rolled her eyes. “You’re always working, and you never have time to hang out anymore” He whined. Here we go again She cursed as she drove down the street. “Do you think I enjoy doing this Ron I would much rather hang out with you or read a good book, and you know that.” She said tightening her grip on the steering wheel an angry edge creeping into her voice. “No I don’t, you never bother to call anymore. You just work read and sleep.” Ron said, and she could practically hear the pout in his voice. “Well maybe I would call more if you didn’t lecture me every time we spoke.” She said pulling her car into the wide driveway of her last stop. “Well Maybe I wouldn’t always bring it up if you made time for me. It’s not like you have to work. You’re choosing to; nobody said you had to go on a stupid trip.” Hermione’s mouth fell open as she parked her car and snatched the key out of the ignition. She opened her mouth to reply and then saw the paper bag in the seat next to her. Snapping her mouth shut she leaned over and grabbed the bag and shoved her door open. “I can’t do this right now Ronald I have a delivery to do.” She said pausing waiting to see if he was going to say anything or maybe even apologize for being unreasonable, but she heard nothing but rustling around from his end. Jumping out of the car and releasing an angry breath she caught a glimpse of the house across the street as she slammed her door. “Sheesh” She muttered under her breath taking in the White house that had dark green vines growing up the pillars in the front entryway. It had a large circular driveway with a fountain in the middle and a tall black front door. The house and the Garden out front were breath taking but what really caught her eye was the dainty yet somehow intimidating silver M that hung on the front door. Neville really wasn’t kidding about that Malfoy money. Hermione thought as she tore her eyes away from the house and made her way up the much more modest in comparison driveway. She had heard rumors about the “Malfoy Mansion” but had never seen it in person before. It wasn’t like she had a reason to go there though. Draco isolated himself from everyone save for his six friends and the people who he did talk to outside of his followers wished that he didn’t. “Delivery!” Hermione Yelled as she reached the front door. She gave the door a quick double tap before standing back and awkwardly letting her hand hang by her side. Hermione heard movement from inside and was startled when the door flung open. She tried not to stare as a woman with a black mop of curls and a strange glint in her eyes stood and stared wildly out the door and past Hermione. Hermione stumbled back and cleared her throat. “I um- sorry if I scared you, but I have an order for a Bellatrix from Bagel Bistro.” She said holding out the brown bistro bag. The woman looked at Hermione as if she had just realized she was there. “Why, I do recall placing an order.” She said giving Hermione a brown smile. It looked as if someone had smeared chocolate on her teeth and the smell coming from her mouth could only be described as death. Bellatrix made no move to take the bag and Hermione was left with her arm hanging awkwardly in the air. “so…should I just leave it here or-” She was cut off by Bellatrix grabbing the bag out of her hand “Thank you” she said staring deeply into Hermione’s eyes and flashing her another sickening smile before abruptly slamming the door in her face. Hermione heard a raspy throaty laugh coming from inside the house and promptly decided that she had stayed long enough. Trying to keep herself from running Hermione walked and half skipped all the way back to her car. She quickly got inside and locked the door. Having forgotten about their previous argument Hermione began to babble. “Ron, I think I’ve just met a real-life witch s-she had the crazy hair and-and warts and long nails and her teeth oh god her teeth.” She said whispering and fumbling to put her seatbelt on. Clearly happy that Hermione was not going to continue their argument Ron played into the distraction. “Don’t be dense Mione.” He said with a throaty chuckle. His laugh seemed to dispel all memory of their earlier disagreement from both of their minds, but Hermione was still a shaken from the way that the woman had stared at her as if she knew her or something. “I’m serious Ronald” She hissed as she started the car up Ron again chuckled over the phone. “Well if what you’re saying is true it sounds like you should refer her to your parent’s office.” Hermione let a small smile grace her lips at her boyfriend’s attempt to make her feel better “No. no way I’m going back up there. She’s probably watching me right now and will attack me if I get out of the car again” Hermione finished with a shudder. “Then get the hell out of there. Yeah?” Ron said amusement still evident in his voice. Hermione was still looking at the lifeless looking house when she swore that she saw a hand grabbing the curtain like a child was about to snatch it back and yell “Peek-a -boo!” She wasted no time throwing her car into reverse and pulling out of the driveway, but in her haste, she turned to wide and hit something with the back of her car. “Shit!” She said as she glanced nervously at the house on her left making sure that the crazy woman wasn’t watching her from the window. “Hold on Ron I just hit something.” She said switching her car of while quickly throwing off her seatbelt and stumbling out the car. “What!” She heard Ron yell from his end of the phone. “Should I come get you” she heard him ask as she walked to the back of the car to see the damage. “No, I’m fine.” Hermione yelled back as she rounded the trunk. She stood back and looked at her right taillight and felt all the color drain from her face. There was a sizable dent and a large scratch on the back of her car, and right next to it were the remains of a statue of a snake crawling up an apple tree. Hermione scuttled back into her car and slammed the door staring straight ahead. “Hermione, what happened, are you okay?” Ron’s panicked voice rang through her car. She felt tears pricking her eyes as she opened her mouth to speak. “Ron I just hit and destroyed one of the Malfoy’s Statues.” She heard Ron suck in a deep breath, and she knew it was bad “How’d you do that” He asked trying to stay calm for her sake. “There’s a statue on both sides of the driveway and I hit one while I was backing out…Ron what do I do?” She asked rubbing her temples and then banging her head on the steering wheel. “Is anyone home?” He asked after a second or two. Hermione looked up and saw that the giant driveway was empty. “No, I don’t think so... Why?” She said curiously. “Because if no one is home then you can leave” Ron said speaking each word slowly like he was speaking a child. Hermione’s scowl deepened. “No I can’t?” She said making it sound more like a question than a statement. “Fine.” Ron said indifferently with a sigh “but if you know like I know you’d split. You’re already going to have pay for the damages to your car; throw in the Malfoy’s statue and you might as well kiss your trip goodbye.” Hermione grasped the key that was hanging limp in her ignition as she nibbled on her bottom lip. Ron was right she might be able to somehow scrape up enough money for the trip and beg her parents to repair her car, but she would have to work years before she could afford that statue. Hermione fiddled with key turning it until just before it would start the car and then stopping. “C’mon Mione just go home knowing them those bastards probably have fifty more in their basement.” Hermione sighed and strapped on her seatbelt. She wrapped her fingers around her key and was about to start it for real this time when a shadow was cast across her face. Dread filled her entire body as she slowly lifted her head and was met with the frosty eyes of Draco Malfoy.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> so sorry I forgot to space out the first chapter. Hope this is easier to read.

Hermione took one look at Draco’s annoyed face and knew that all thoughts of leaving were now useless.  
“Yeah I’m gonna have to call you later Ron.”   
She said releasing the key from her sweaty grip and letting her hand fall into her lap.   
“Why, what happened?”  
Ron asked dropping his voice as if he knew someone was listening. Hermione looked and saw that Draco was still standing outside her window and looked to be growing impatient.   
“I’ll explain later, but let’s just say that someone’s home.”   
She heard Ron curse under his breath before speaking.   
“Mione I told you-”   
Hermione stopped listening to the rest of what he was saying when Draco began tapping on her window and motioned for her to roll it down.   
“Okay I gotta go bye!”  
She said rushing to hang up. Once she had hung up the phone, she smiled innocently at Draco through the glass which he returned with a sneer as she rolled her it down.  
“Can I help you?”  
Hermione asked as sweetly as she could unrealistically hoping that he would feel bad and let her go.  
“You hit our statue and then tried to leave”  
Draco said in a bored tone raising a perfectly arched eyebrow. She instantly flushed as she realized he had probably heard her conversation on her car’s speaker.  
“No, I wasn’t going to leave I was just asking my boyfriend what I should do because he’s resourceful…like most boyfriends are”   
She finished lamely giving Him another large smile.   
“So, I guess you were just about to start your car up to go buy glue from the art store to put the statue back together with, right?”  
Hermione opened her mouth to reply but Draco had started up again.   
“Or let’s go with the more obvious and correct answer”   
He said stressing the word correct.  
“you were just going to leave”   
He finished his voice sounding accusatory. Hermione narrowed her eyes at the tall slender boy before her Even if she had momentarily thought about leaving, he didn’t know that, and therefore had no right to speak to her like that.  
“If you must know I left my car running when I got out to see what happened. Once I realized I’d broken the statue I got back in talked to my boyfriend and was parking it. That’s what you saw, not me starting the car up to leave.”  
The lie came out smoothly as she continued to glare at him. She felt smug as she saw his confident expression faulter, but She didn’t have long to gloat because in a split-second Draco had reached his hand out and opened her car door. Hermione sat there her mouth agape.   
“What are you doing?”  
She gasped, annoyed that the comfort that the door had offered was now gone. It was now Draco’s turn to give her a smug look.   
“I’m opening the door for you; I want you to walk me through exactly what happened, so I know what to tell my parents.”   
Hermione groaned as she realized that there was no smiling her way out of this.  
“to hell with it.”   
She muttered as she threw her seat belt off. Draco gave her a cheeky grin as he stood out to the side extending his arm out like doorman welcoming a guest of honor. Rolling her eyes Hermione stood up out of her car and stalked around to the back where the remains of the statue were lying without waiting for Draco. She heard her car door slam shut and he turned to look at him she was going to say something about him slamming her door like that but then she remembered that she had just destroyed something that probably cost her college tuition. Clearing her throat, she pointed at the driveway across the street and began explaining what had happened. She looked up at Draco who was considerably taller than her and saw that he was holding in a laugh.   
“What’s so funny?”   
She asked indignantly folding her arms across her chest. This was apparently the funniest thing that Draco had heard in a long while because he absolutely lost it.   
“So, you’re telling me that you were backing out from way over there?”   
He said pointing to the creepy house across the street. Hermione nodded still wondering what he was laughing about.  
“And you still couldn’t clear the turn? You have like eight feet of road.”   
He finished doubling over and clutching his stomach. Hermione watched as his almost white hair fell into his face and his shoulders shook from his laughter, and the longer he laughed the harder it was to fight back the smile that threatened to spill across her face. Even though he was laughing at her expense there was a quality to it that reminded her of Christmas. It didn’t happen every day, but on the day that it does occur you just couldn’t help but be happy about it.   
“Okay, okay I’m glad this is so funny for you but I’m in deep water here.”   
Hermione said sighing loudly. Draco straightened up and wiped the tears from his eyes and she was almost sad that his laughter had stopped. Pushing the strange thoughts to the back of her mind she looked at Draco expectantly.   
“What!?”  
He scoffed rolling his eyes.  
“They’ll most likely take your car for a couple of weeks and then they’ll get over it.”  
He said running his hand trough his hair and shrugging nonchalantly. Hermione’s eyes stretched as she shook her head.   
“No, you don’t understand my parents are on this whole prove your responsibility tip and they’ll make me pay for it that’s why I’m working this stupid job anyway.”   
Hermione said motioning toward the shirt her job required her to wear. Draco shoved his hands in his pocket and tilted his head to the side as he furrowed his eyebrows.   
“Why would they do that you already have straight A’s plus it’s not like you have a social life or do anything fun either. It doesn’t get much more boring than that.”   
Hermione shifted her feet and rolled her eyes deciding to let the fact that he had insulted her slide this once, only because he was agreeing with her.   
“One might think that that’d be enough but trust me it’s not for them. I thought the same thing when asked them about going on a road trip this summer and they said I had to get a job to prove I was responsible enough to drive around the country without them.”  
She finished incredulously. This sent Draco into another laughing fit.   
“You shouldn’t even be aloud to drive around the block let alone the country. I’m sorry Granger but you’re gonna have to forget about that trip”   
He said in between burst of laughter. Hermione rolled her eyes at the use of her last name instead of her first he was the only person that had ever called her that and it caught her off guard every time. She remembered in grade school when Cho had asked why he only used peoples last names.   
“Because first names are too intimate for acquaintances.”  
He had answered plainly at the ripe age of eleven.  
“Seriously Draco how much is this gonna cost me?”  
Hermione asked motioning to the pile of rubble and running a hand through her brown curly hair. He quickly sobered up and made a strange face at her before clearing his throat.   
“Oh, you could never afford this.”   
He stated matter-of-factly as he adjusted his canvas colored button-down shirt on which he had left the top 4 buttons undone. Hermione huffed as she kicked at the ground and the reality of the situation settled upon her.  
“So, I guess you need my parents’ contact info and insurance huh?”   
She asked sounding dejected. Great going Hermione. You have really done it now we are so grounded.   
“Maybe not”   
Draco said interrupting her internal pity party.   
“what?”   
Hermione said looking at him quizzically wondering what he was talking about. Draco merely began examining his perfectly manicured nails with a bored expression on his face.   
“Maybe. not.”   
He said again putting space between the two words as if he were stating a fact and not just repeating something had just randomly decided to say.   
“Maybe not what?”   
Hermione asked an edge creeping into her voice. She was getting annoyed now and Draco was clearly playing games with her.  
“Maybe we don’t need to tell your parents about this?”  
Hermione looked up at Draco uncertainly not sure what he was trying to imply.   
“Why would you help me?”   
Hermione asked looking at him apprehensively. Draco turned his head towards Hermione finally making eye contact with her.  
“Oh no, you’ve got it all wrong Granger. It’s you who would be helping me.”   
He said not breaking eye contact with her. Hermione opened her mouth to speak but Draco beat her to it.  
“I’ll give you the money to repair your car and for your trip plus I won’t tell your parents you wrecked our statue.”   
Hermione shook her and head furrowed her eyebrows,   
“and before you ask about my parent’s I’ll just tell them I broke it.”   
Hermione snapped her mouth shut and frowned at the ground.   
“I don’t get it. What’s in it for you?”   
She asked finally looking at Draco. He merely smirked at her and ran his long slender fingers through his now messy white locks then shrugging plainly he replied,  
“I need a girlfriend.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! Please leave any critiques or any thing you'd like me to do differently.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm extremely open to any suggestions or critiques I want to make this book good for you guys! :)

Hermione stood gawking at Draco a few seconds looking as if she was trying to determine if she had heard him right.  
“Excuse me!?”  
She finally yelled; her shrill cry cut through the silence around him and Draco found himself cringing away from the sound. You really just don’t know how to ease into things do you mate? He thought to himself as he looked at Hermione’s perplexed expression. Feeling far less confident than he was willing to let on Draco did the only thing he knew how to do when he was feeling insecure; he made a joke.  
“For someone whose about to graduate as our classes Valedictorian you’re not very smart, are you?”  
He asked giving her his signature smirk. This seemed to jolt Hermione out of her shocked state, and she narrowed her eyes regarding Draco with suspicion before replying.  
“No that’s just it.”  
She said and Draco saw her carefully calculating how to properly execute what she wanted to say next.  
“I am smart; smart enough to know that if you truly wanted a girlfriend you could get one, and I know for a fact that it’d be someone you deem to be on your level. Someone like Tracey Davis and most importantly not me So, what are you really on about?”  
Draco did not like how he was so easily read by her and was rendered speechless for a moment.  
“Well you’re right about one thing, you’re not on my level, but the fact that you agree- I mean c’mon Granger you’ve got to work on that self-confidence.”  
He finished with a cruel chuckle as he looked down at her. Anger flared in her big brown eyes and Draco found himself fighting the urge to take step back to put some more space between them.  
“My self-confidence!?”  
Hermione said with an almost manic sounding chuckle.  
“There’s a reason that only your groupies like you, and I’m not even sure about them.”  
She said wrinkling her nose like she had just smelled a foul odor as she looked at him.  
“You pretend that you don’t care what anyone thinks. You even pretend that you don’t care that everyone hates you, but you do. You’re lonely and you’re pathetic”  
She spat looking him up and down and giving him a sneer that could give his own a run for its money. Draco stood aghast but collected himself quickly  
“What makes you think you have the right to speak to me like that? You’re attending the Black academy on a scholarship one call to my Grandfather Cygnus and that scholarship would be revoked. Then what Granger, what would you do once you started having to pay for a school that you can’t afford?”  
He smirked quirking up an eyebrow. Draco expected for her anger to faulter for her resolve to be broken, but his words seemed to have the opposite effect on her and if anything she looked more angry than before, and if looks could kill in that very moment Draco Malfoy would have been a dead man. Hermione took a step towards Draco leaving less than a foot of room between the pair before speaking.  
“Believe or not Draco”  
She said spitting his name out like it was something bitter and poisonous  
“You earn scholarships by working hard and applying extra effort they’re not just given to you like some handout, and I know that’s probably something unheard of to you but it’s common for the rest of the world. I accepted that scholarship because I earned it not because my parents couldn’t afford to pay.”  
She paused breathing heavily her cheeks flushed from anger.  
“I don’t know why you think that you can put people down because they weren’t born into rich families like you were, but newsflash your parents are the rich ones not you.”  
She spat making a move to walk past him and go back to her car. Draco’s hand flew out and grabbed a hold of her wrist before he was even aware of what he was doing. He felt something pass between the two of them and he looked down at where his hand and her wrist were connected before looking back up and locking eyes with Hermione who had stopped in her tracks and had turned to look at him. He saw a quick flash of something cut through the fiery anger, but it was quickly replaced, and it made him wonder if had imagined it.  
“You’d better have a good reason for grabbing me Draco.”  
She said slightly calmer than before but still angry. Draco again found himself fighting against a pleasurable shudder that threatened to wrack trough his body. Something about the way she said his name even while it was laced with hatred sounded like music to his ears.  
How did we get here? Less than two minutes ago you were having a civil conversation with her. Swallow your pride stop being a prick and fix this. Draco looked down at Hermione’s expectant face and cleared his throat.  
“I wanted to apologize.”  
He said almost choking on the last word. Shock spread across Hermione’s face and she looked at him skeptically.  
“I can count on one hand how many times I’ve heard you apologize to someone, and I’ve known you since grade school.”  
Draco sighed before dropping her wrist and grabbing her shoulders.  
“Granger I am truly sorry for the way I spoke to you. You didn’t deserve that, and I will try my hardest to control my temper in the future.”  
Hermione searched his face trying to decide if he was teasing her or not.  
“And, you’re right everyone does hate me which is why I am desperate for your help.”  
He said sincerely looking deeply into her brown eyes that reminded him of apple cider. Hermione shook her shoulders out his grasp and looked at him annoyance evident on her face, which still wasn’t great, but it was leaps better than the snarl that had graced her delicate features moments before.  
“Shove off it”  
She said wiping her shoulders off and rolling her eyes. Draco took note of the fact that she still hadn’t left yet, and he watched her as he tried to decide what to do next.  
“Well aren’t you going to tell me what I have to do to get the money?”  
She said sighing exasperatedly. Draco looked at her in shock for a few seconds before a devilish grin slowly seeped across his face.  
“You might wanna sit down for this one Granger.”  
He said mischievously as he leaned casually against her trunk. Hermione looked at him through guarded eyes and stood still for a moment or two before crossing her arms and walking towards Draco while muttering something under her breath. Draco watched as she braced one hand on the trunk and gracefully jumped up and settled onto it with her legs dangling off the edge while swinging them back and forth. Draco was acutely aware of the fact that her thigh was lightly tickling his forearm as she swung her legs. He cleared his throat and quickly scooted his arm closer to himself praising whatever entity there was that Malfoy’s did not blush.  
“This is a tragic story of woe so don’t be surprised if you find yourself sniveling into that hideous shirt of yours.” He said looking at the black and lime green shirt like it was gum beneath his shoe. Hermione looked down at him and smacked him on the back of his head. Draco looked up at her astonished.  
“Did you just-”  
“Oh, just get on with the story.”  
Hermione said cutting him off. Draco sniffed indignantly before recalling the event that had led up to this moment.  
“It all started a few weeks ago when my mother came into room to tell me that I needed to meet her and father because I needed to discuss something with them.”  
“Draco darling your Father and I have something very important that we would like to discuss with you.”  
Draco groaned rolled over and groaned again upon seeing that the electric alarm clock on his nightstand read only ten past nine.  
“What could possibly be so important that we have to talk about it this early in the morning?”  
He grumbled rolling back over and turning his back to his mother. Narcissa who possessed more elegance than should be humanly possible floated across the room and sat on the edge of her son’s bed and began to rub circles on his back.  
“I’ll have none of that.”  
She said sternly continuing to rub his back all the while. Draco sighed contently he would not let anybody know it and he would die before he said it aloud, but he was a Mama’s boy. There was nothing that you could do or say to him that his mothers calming presence and gentle voice could not fix.  
“Now I need you to get up, get dressed and meet us in the study alright?”  
When Draco still did not move or make any indication that he had heard what she had said Narcissa’s flawless features graced a small frown for a split second before her eyes began to twinkle and smile broke across her regal face.  
“After we’re finished you can go downtown with me and we can stop by that little tea shop that you like so much.”  
At this Draco slightly lifted his head and strained to turn back and look at his mother. Narcissa’s delicate laughter filled the large room and she bent and placed a soft kiss on Draco’s temple.  
“Alright now, study in twenty.”  
She said giving him a final pat on the back and gliding towards the door. She stopped at the doorway giving Draco a faux stern look before shutting the door. Draco sighed as he looked out his window that covered his entire wall facing into their backyard. With one final yawn Draco pushed up on his forearm. Now in a sitting position on his bed his comforter pooled in his lap he shuddered as the cool morning air hit his bare chest.  
“This better be good”  
he grumbled as he began getting out of bed. Approximately twenty-one minutes later a now fully awake Draco sauntered into the study making sure his mother saw the smug expression. She gave him an annoyed looked that she only half meant before motioning for him to sit in the chair in front of his father’s large oak desk. Narcissa stood next to her husband who sat in a large deep green leather desk chair.  
“Draco my boy we need to discuss your future.”  
His father’s deep rumbling voice sailed through the air demanding attention from anyone who heard it.  
“We’ve already discussed you taking over the family business when you graduate, and I already have all the paperwork prepped so that when the time comes it will all be transferred into your name.”  
Draco’s chest swelled and he had to work hard to keep his face even. He had been waiting for the day the he would inherit the family jewelry business. Belle Bijou had been founded by his Great Great Great Grandfather who had been a goldsmith in Paris. The business had done so well that the brand was now globally known, and it was about to be Draco’s.  
“But before we can move forward with that you need to have a partner that you can trust.”  
Lucious said lovingly patting Narcissa’s hand that was resting on his shoulder. Draco sat dumfounded not understanding what his Father was saying. Lucious stared at the boy waiting for him to say something completely unaware of the fact that he was confused. Narcissa who could read her son like a fashion magazine looked at Draco lovingly  
“Sweetheart he’s talking about a wife.”  
She said looking at him waiting for his reaction. Draco could not help the horrified look that overtook his features.  
“A wife?!”  
He said looking at them searching for any sign’s amusement or laughter in their faces. They only nodded and continued to look at him.  
“But I’ve only just turned eighteen.”  
He yelped jumping out of his seat. Narcissa was his side in an instant holding his hand and soothing him back down into his chair.  
“You won’t have to marry her right away, just be promised to her.”  
Narcissa cooed moving to sit in the seat next to his. Draco groaned and let his head flop back as he imagined pledging himself to one person for his entire life. He was in his prime he would be traveling the world a dashing rich bachelor and he wouldn’t even be able to enjoy it. He could not stand for this.  
“She’ll need to come from a good background as well, as you already know it doesn’t look to be seen marrying some lowlife scrub.”  
Lucious said plainly cutting through Draco’s thoughts his gray stormy eyes settling him. Without thinking twice Draco opened his mouth believing he had found an out.  
“Well I won’t find anyone like that here I’ll have to look elsewhere.”  
He finished shrugging trying to make himself look bored. To his dismay his mother clapped her hands together in delight a bright smile lighting up her face.  
“See, I told you Lucious! I was right!”  
She said joyously sounding like a child opening a new toy. Much to his horror his father was grinning too  
“Yes you certainly were my love.”  
He said taking her hand placing a kiss on her ring clad knuckles. Draco sat stunned waiting to see if they were going to include him in their mini celebration. His mother turned towards him excitement swimming in her blue eyes.  
“You father and I took note of the fact that you didn’t seem to be in search of a bride. Now your father thought that maybe you just weren’t looking but I knew that it wasn’t your fault and that the girls here weren’t good enough for you.”  
She gushed clutching Draco’s hand  
“Do you remember Astoria from etiquette camp in America?”  
She asked excitedly still gripping his hand. Draco didn’t have to remember Astoria her saw her almost every day in the daily post. Astoria Greengrass was now an American model known for her luscious long black hair. However, the Astoria that Draco Had gone to etiquette camp with was scrawny and awkward and her bright green eyes seemed slightly too big for her face. She had grown into a fairly attractive girl, he still found her cheeks to be to hollow and her teeth slightly crooked, but other than that there wasn’t much to complain about.  
“She’s willing to marry you Draco.”  
Her mother said emphatically while smiling a him. Of course, she was willing to marry him that wasn’t the problem, he was a catch. It was Draco who did not want to marry her. Sure, she was pretty enough, but he thought he could do better.  
“she’s well respected has money of her own and she can help you run the business just as I did for you father plus she’s coming to London for the start of summer ball the county club always has. You guys can announce your engagement then.”  
Narcissa finished and looked at Lucious and giving him a wink, sure that her son would like the girl she’d picked out for him. Draco who rarely found himself speechless tried and failed to speak multiple times. He looked down at his feet and back up at his parent’s.  
“Mum, Dad this is such an old custom why do I have to be pledged to anyone. Why can’t I just run the company myself?”  
He said calmly trying not to whine. Lucious looked at his son disappointment evident in his eyes.  
“Son, I’ve told you many times that this was how it has to be done it’s tradition.”  
He said looking bewildered and thoroughly annoyed at his son’s discontent. Draco opened his mouth to speak again but his Father gave him a leveled look that promptly cause him to snap his mouth shut.  
“You’ve always been such a good boy Draco why are making such a riot now?”  
Lucious asked clearly on the brink of being fed up. Draco looked at his mother hoping to see a glimmer of understanding but she too looked hurt and confused. The brilliant smile that had just lit up her face no where to be seen. Draco sighed; he knew his father was right Lucious had been teaching Draco how to properly run a business since he could read, and, those were some of his fondest memories. He had known this was coming but he thought he had a little more time, but how could he? It wasn’t like he had a girlfriend that he could use to buy himself so more time. Suddenly Draco perked up his parents took note of this, so he quickly cleared his throat and tried to appear sullen.  
“I didn’t know how to tell you guys this”  
he said sniffling swiping an imaginary tear off his face before continuing.  
“I’ve been seeing someone for almost two years now.”  
He said pausing and sniffing again.  
“So, you see that is why I cannot pledge myself to Astoria, at least not until I’ve gotten over my first love it wouldn’t be fair to her.”  
Draco finished dramatically clutching his black slacks in his hands and dropping his head down trying to appear distressed. Narcissa gasped and her hands flew up and covered her heart. Lucious looked at Draco infuriated.  
“That is the biggest load of shit I have ever heard you expect me to believe that you’re in love?”  
He asked incredulously. Narcissa jumped out of her chair and gave Lucious a frosty glare.  
“Lucious! Our son has just told us the news we’ve been waiting to hear our entire lives and you’re angry?!”  
She asked lightly smacking him on the arm. Narcissa gave him one last parting warning with her eyes before turning towards Draco.  
“My sweet”  
She said softly stroking his hair.  
“Why did you never tell us about this girl…or boy?”  
Behind Narcissa Lucious’ eyes looked as if they were about to pop out of his head and Draco too stiffened under his mother’s hand.  
“No, no it’s a girl”  
He said jumping up from the chair he was in startling his mother. And to both of his parent’s surprise Draco actually had tears running down his porcelain face.  
“She’s not rich so I didn’t think you would like her.”  
He wailed throwing his arms around his mother who he was at least a foot taller than. Narcissa rubbed his back soothingly while frantically looking at Lucious  
“fix this”  
she mouthed angrily at him as she continued to comfort her son. Lucious pinched the bridge of his nose before speaking.  
“Draco, son while it would be better if you didn’t marry a servant. If you really love her then we’ll be happy for you.”  
He said with a pained expression on his face. Narcissa flashed him a lovely smile and patted Draco on the back.  
“Then it’s settled then. I hired a caterer for my book club gathering next month, but I see I’ll have to cancel the meeting so we can have lunch with girlfriend.”  
She said joyously giving her son a squeeze. Lucious groaned  
“Narcissa my love”  
he said slowly trying to keep the anger out of his voice.  
“Must we cancel book club for this.”  
Draco nodded in agreement  
“Yeah, you guys can meet her some other time don’t cancel your book club for me. I know you and father were really looking forward to it.”  
He said wiping the remaining tears off his face. Narcissa laughed.  
“Nonsense I’m cancelling book club to meet the love of my son’s life, and I’ll hear no more about it.”  
She said before walking out the door. Draco stood awkwardly looking at his father who had collapsed exhausted in his chair. He didn’t say anything, so Draco turned to leave but his father called out to him.  
“Yes father?”  
he asked anxiously quickly turning to face him.  
“Are you really in love Draco?”  
He asked earnestly doubt clouding his steel eyes. The question caught Draco off guard but years of lying to teachers about where his assignment was had prepared him for this.  
“Yeah, I think I am”  
he said adding a disbelieving chuckle to the end. Lucious gave Draco the closet thing he could to a smile  
“Very good son”  
He said nodding his head.  
“Can’t wait to meet her”  
he finished as he began pulling out planners to begin his work for the day.  
“I can’t wait for you to meet her.”  
Draco said flashing his father a final grin before walking out the study closing the door on his way out. Draco did feel slightly bad for lying, but it was their own fault for trying to force him into some loveless marriage. Plus, all he had to do was bring some girl over for lunch simple.  
“and that’s where you come in”  
Draco finished looking up at Hermione for the first time since he began telling the story. Hermione looked down at him one of her eyebrows raised in amusement.  
“So, you expect to make your parents believe that you’re in love with and have been in love with some girl you found on the street for two years?”  
Draco rolled his eyes.  
“Don’t be stupid Granger I didn’t just find you on the street I’ve basically known you my whole life. We’re practically mates.”  
He said cheekily. Hermione let out a laugh that sounded like bells and Draco could not help but smirk at the sound of it.  
“You and I mates!?”  
she said hilarity evident in her voice.  
“You know Draco if this whole family business thing doesn’t work you might make it as a comedian.”  
She said giggling at her own joke.  
“Ha Ha Granger. Now what do you say ready to be my business partner?”  
Draco asked sticking out his hand. Hermione looked down at his hand disgust written over her face.  
“Do you know how many germs are spread from skin to skin contact?”  
She asked pushing his hand away with the tip of her white sneaker.  
“Slow your roll Granger, you know we’re only pretending right?”  
Draco asked smirking  
“If you wanna do all the nitty gritty stuff you’ll have to call your actual boyfriend.”  
He finished with a snicker. Hermione looked down at him confused and this caused Draco to laugh harder. Realization dawned on Hermione and her cheeks became flushed as she smacked Draco on the arm.  
“That’s not what I meant.”  
She cried out mortified. Draco shook his head quieting his laughter to speak.  
“Do we have a deal or not Ms. Kinky boots.”  
He asked roaring with laughter at his own immature joke. Hermione closed her eyes and looked up at the sky as if looking away from Draco could make him disappear. Suddenly Hermione grabbed onto the arm that he had resting lazily on her car and Draco stopped laughing and looked at her quizzically.  
“Why don’t you use Pansy?”  
Hermione asked excitedly.  
“she’s always doing things to get your parents attention.”  
Draco frowned. He had considered bringing Pansy to his Mother’s lunch, but he knew he would never be able to sell the whole love act with her. Of course, he couldn’t say that to Hermione because then it would imply that he could easily pretend to be in love with her. Which he undoubtedly could he made him less tense. Things he didn’t feel comfortable doing around other people came naturally around her. It was unsettling how easily they’d gone from yelling at each other to lounging around and cracking jokes like old friends.  
“Why not you?”  
Draco said mocking Hermione’s excited tone. She looked down at him before responding.  
“I mean I want the money don’t get me wrong, but don’t you think you’ll have a higher success rate with Pansy.”  
Hermione asked her eyebrows furrowed. Draco groaned as he turned and placed both arms on Hermione’s car causing his left arm to press against her thigh for the second time that afternoon. He ran his hand through his hair to play it off and scooted away from her slightly, but it dawned on him how close they actually were to each other. Sure she was higher up but the fact that she sat only a mere couple of inches away from him was still oddly intimate to Draco. He hated people in his personal space. In fact, the only people he had ever felt comfortable standing this close to were his parents but it came naturally with her just like everything else seemed to. Shaking his head trying to clear the foreign thoughts from his mind Draco answered Hermione.  
“Christ Granger how’d you get the job you have right now? Did you tell them how great the other candidates were?”  
He said looking back up at her.  
“Very funny Draco but no, I just wanna make sure I have all the facts before I agree to this.”  
She said as if talking to a young child.  
“Dear God”  
Draco cried out. Why couldn’t she just agree already. He knew she was going to, she was smart she wouldn’t say no and turn down the money. He just needed for her to stop asking questions and say it out loud.  
“Pansy was the first person I thought of too, but I hate her and plus I told my parents that mystery girl wasn’t rich, and Pansy is. Not only that but Pansy would probably force me to take her to the ball after too.”  
A look of panic etched itself on Hermione’s face  
“I know!”  
Draco cried thinking the horrified look on Hermione’s face coincided with his statement about pansy.  
“it would be a nightmare all of her whining and-”  
“No not that dimwit the ball! Wont your parents want you to take the love of your life to the ball so they can brag about it to all of their yacht club friends?”  
Draco waved his hand in the air dismissively.  
“I’ve already thought of that. You’re going to be visiting your Grandparents in the countryside the weekend of the ball, and I couldn’t possibly go without you.”  
He said Dramatically putting a hand on his forehead. Hermione nodded deep in thought.  
“And thank me later I already thought about our breakup. After graduation you’re going to study abroad of course I’ll have “pledged” myself before you went but then the distance causes me to fall out of love with you, but by the point I already have the business and can do whatever I want.” Hermione looked at Draco a small smile playing at her lips.  
“I’m impressed Draco you may actually pull this off.”  
She said sounding surprised. Draco grinned he was a sucker for people singing his praises.  
“I know, I know”  
He said looking up at Hermione.  
“So, do we have a deal?”  
he asked. Hermione pondered it for a brief few seconds  
“Sure I guess.”  
She answered shrugging and sliding off the back of her car.  
“Hey, wait a minute!”  
Draco said looking slightly offended. Hermione turned to face him confused.  
“I’m paying you, and I’m sorry Granger but I guess isn’t good enough for me.”  
Hermione pursed her lips and rolled her eyes.  
“Draco, I promise that I will do whatever I can to help you achieve the young rich bachelor life you so desperately want.”  
Even though she was annoyed and meant for it to come off jokingly Draco knew she meant it.  
“Thank you”  
He said seriously. Off put by his sudden change in mood Hermione just nodded. She began walking away before suddenly remembering something.  
“Do you need my number?”  
she called from her car door. Draco shook his head.  
“I already have it from that group project last year.”  
Hermione nodded and turned to open her door. She paused for a moment before looking back at Draco.  
"Hey Draco. I forgave you earlier, but if you ever speak to me like that again I won't be won over so easily."  
She finished flipping her glossy hair over her shoulder sounding as if she was only partly joking. She turned as she ducked into her silver car. She was about to close the door when Draco called out to her.  
"I won't."  
Draco Said earnestly nodding quickly. Hermione stared Draco in his eyes as if she were trying to read his mind before nodding back at him.  
“Oh, and Granger.”  
He said causing Hermione to lean out her car.  
“Tell your boyfriend about our agreement. I don’t have the time or energy to deal with his toxic possessiveness.”  
He said with a smirk. Hermione said something under her breath before addressing him.  
“Hop off Draco”  
She said a with a smile on her face. He watched as she climbed in the car and closed the door. He observed that window was still down, so he cupped his hands around his mouth and yelled  
“try not hit anything on your way home Granger!”  
And he couldn’t help but laugh in awe as he saw her small delicate hand come out the window flicking him off as the car started to slowly drive away. Although the car began to gradually fade from view the smile on his face could not seem to do the same. Shoving his hands in his pocket Draco chuckled and shook his head as he turned and walked back up his driveway. The broken statue a distant memory from yesteryear in his mind.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I truly appreciate you all. <3


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please enjoy. I appreciate everyone who takes the time out of their day to read my little story. I love you! You are loved <3

Hermione arrived at her house much faster than she would have liked to knowing that she was going to have to tell her parents about the damage to her car. It wasn’t horrible but it wasn’t small enough to hide. Not that she would ever try that, she found it was much better to just come straight out and tell the truth rather than trying lie to people. Hermione parked her car on the driveway and sighed as she took note of the fact that her parents were home. Their car was in the garage, but she could the lights on in the dining room. Taking the key out the ignition and steadying her breathing Hermione opened her door. She took her seatbelt off and rose out of her car leaning down to grab her phone out the center console before slamming the door. She was in no rush to go tell on herself, so she dragged her feet up the driveway. If you hadn’t known any better, it would have looked like she was inspecting the concrete on the ground. Reaching the front door all too quickly Hermione paused and took a deep breath before twisting the doorknob and stepping inside.   
“I’m home!”  
she called from the entryway shutting and locking the door behind her. She slipped her shoes off and kicked them by the door. Making her way into the kitchen she saw her father who had dark hair with sprinkles of grey in it standing over the stove while mixing something in a pan.   
“Smells good.”   
Hermione chirped walking over and giving him a side hug. Wendell leant down and placed a kiss on the top of her head.   
“You’re home late.”   
Her mother Monica said looking at her trying to determine if she had done anything bad or not. Hermione made her way around the island and leaned across the counter next to where her mother was working on one of her new puzzles.   
“sorry my last delivery was kinda far out”  
She said as she picked up the puzzle piece she’d been eyeing and popping it into place. Her mother looked up at her with playful pointed look as she swatted her hand away.   
“Go finish setting the table since you need something to do so badly.”   
She said winking at her daughter before dropping her head back down over puzzle letting her honey colored hair fall over her face. Hermione pushed herself off the counter and grabbed the three plates that were lying on the island as she crossed the threshold into the dining room. It was much larger than it needed to be, but her parents had bought it when they had assumed that they were going to have a big family. The universe had other plans for them though because soon after they had bought the house Monica found out that she couldn’t get pregnant. Three long years later though they discovered that they were pregnant with Hermione. The doctor had told them that pregnancy would be extremely rough and that their baby would most likely only make it for a few days. Monica whose stubbornness Hermione had inherited could not accept this. She still made nursery, still read parenting books and had even gone as far as to plan out what Hermione was going to wear on her first three birthdays. Wendell who was not much into planning outfits began researching and had come to her mother with a name for the child. They were originally going to name her Jean but had both decided that their baby deserved a name that held power, and her father had stumbled across the name Hermione. It meant born well. Which in their case meant no health complications, and to everyone’s surprise, (save for her parents) she was born well. She had no health complications like the doctors had predicted. She also did not come early like they had predicted. In typical Hermione fashion she was born on the estimated due date at almost twelve on the dot. Hermione sighed as she walked around the large oak table wondering how she was going to tell her parents what she’d done to her car.   
“Just ease into. They won’t be so mad once you tell them you’ll pay for it.”  
She thought to herself as she placed the three plates at the end seats of the table where three cups of water and utensils were lying. Hermione heard her parents making their way to the dining room as they conversed about which patient of theirs had the nicest teeth that day and made herself comfortable in her seat. Wendell who was a man of average height that wore spectacles that constantly slipped off his face brought the food and placed it on the table before settling into his chair and readjusting his glasses. Monica shook her head at him endearingly and followed suit. The three sat in silence as they dished food onto their and began to eat. Hermione had eaten half of her plate and listened to her parent’s chat about work before finally working up the courage to tell them about the car. She cleared her throat and took a sip of water before opening her mouth to speak.  
“I have something to tell you guys.”   
Hermione started, pushing the food around on her plate with her fork. Her parents gave each other and unreadable look and then her mother placed her fork down and looked at her daughter.   
“You finally broke up with Ron?”  
She asked looking a little too excited at the idea. Hermione almost fell over in her seat at her mother’s accusation.   
“Good riddance, that boy had no manners, last time you invited him over for dinner I barely had any of the food that I cooked.”  
Her father said angrily stuffing food in his mouth. Her mother nodded her head vigorously before chiming in again.   
“I have never seen anyone be able to talk with so much food in their mouths-”  
“Don’t forget the fact that he tried to stop you from hanging out with Harry because he was jealous of him.”   
Her father said cutting her mother off. Monica’s green eyes widened as she remembered something.   
“Wendell, do you remember last summer when Hermione was at her grandmother’s and that dreadful boy came and accused her of ignoring her calls because she was cheating on him!? My god what a temper that little devil had”  
Her mother exclaimed barely able to finish the story due to her own laughter. Her father grabbed onto her mother’s hand as he too began to laugh loudly as he recanted how red his face had gotten when he told him that she merely on a plane and that’s why her phone was shut off.  
“Mum, Dad!”   
Hermione cried horrified over their chorused laughter. Her parents looked at her still chuckling at the expense of her boyfriend.   
“I hate to disappoint you guys, but Ronald and I are still very much together and happy!”   
She huffed sawing into her chicken with far more force then necessary embarrassed that Ron had left such a horrible impression her parents. Monic and Wendell looked at each other again eyes wide as they realized what they had done. Monica looked down at her lap and covered her mouth trying to quiet her tittering, and her father cleared his throat and tried to rearrange his face into a serious expression.  
“Now, sweetheart you know we were only joking.”   
He said a bit of laughter still clinging to his words. Monica who was finally able to compose herself looked at Hermione nodding her head.   
“Yes, we were just having a spot of fun. Ron is quite a lovely boy.”   
Wendell’s smile grew wider at his wife’s words and he had to cover his mouth with a napkin while pretending to wipe off some food. Hermione continued to glower at her plate making a mental note to never invite Ron over again; they could have dinner with his family.   
“Well seeing as you two are in such a happy mood I guess it’s the perfect time to tell you I backed my car into a statue.”  
She yelled stabbing the chicken she had mutilated with her fork and jamming it into her mouth. She sat there chewing her food refusing to look at her parents. She had not wanted to tell them like that, but they were always making snide remarks about how Ron treated her poorly and how she should break up with him because she deserved better. Well, tonight she’d had enough. They sat in uncomfortable silence before Wendell finally spoke.  
“Who’s statue?  
He asked calmly taking a sip of water and holding it in his mouth. Monica looked at Hermione her eyebrow raised.   
“I don’t know. It was just some random family.”   
She bluffed still keeping her eyes trained on her lap. She heard her mother sigh.  
“Well we’ll need to know the address so we can pay for it.”   
She stated pushing away her nearly untouched plate of food. Her father nodded looking at her solemnly over his glasses that were slipping down his face steadily as he tilted his head down to look a her.   
“We’ll need to take your car in to see how much the repairs will be also.”   
He said taking a bite of food and waving his fork absentmindedly in the air. Hermione sat glumly as she bit the inside of her cheek. They hadn’t said anything about her paying for any of this, but it didn’t feel right to let them do it. Additionally, she had already promised to help Draco so there was no going back now. She could tell them she had already payed for the damaged statue, but they would no doubt wonder how she was getting the money for her car, and she couldn’t very well tell them that she was acting as Draco’s rent a date service. She could probably tell them she was going to start working on the weekends to earn some more money. She would just have to spend her weekends at the library until it was rational for her to have such a large sum of money. She didn’t mind though; she loved the library.   
You could even spend the time with Ron.  
She thought to herself now studying her hands. Making her mind up she finally looked and met her parents unrelenting gaze.  
“I already paid for the statue, and I’m going to start working on the weekends so I can repair my car.”   
She said looking at them nervously wringing her hands together in her lap. Her parents looked at her keeping their faces still.   
“What about your trip?”   
Her mother asked lacing her hands together and placing her chin on top of them. Of course, Hermione knew she would still be able to pay for the trip, but her parents didn’t know about her arrangement with Draco and she intended to keep it that way.  
“I guess I’ll pay for my car and if I have enough money after that I’ll go and if not, I guess I’ll be here for the summer.”   
Monica sat up straight and looked at her husband. Wendell shrugged and looked at his daughter.   
“Thank you for telling us.” He said finally as he stood up and began to clear the dishes off the table seeing that dinner was now done. Hermione sat there stunned.  
“You’re not punishing me?”   
She asked before she could realize the stupidity of the question. She quickly shut her gaping mouth and looked at her parents sheepishly now seeing her mistake. Her mother who had risen out of her chair and was collecting their glasses stopped to look at her. Wendell chortled as he stood at the threshold of the kitchen the three plates still in hand.   
“You’re something else kiddo I’ll give you that, but you already came with your own punishment.”   
He said shaking his head as he left the room. Hermione’s mother gave her a smart look and motioned for Hermione to zip her lips as she walked into the kitchen after her father. Deciding to go to her room before her parent’s changed their mind she stood up and pushed her chair in and made her way up the stairs. After such a long draining day Hermione was more than pleased to see her room. To the average person Hermione’s room would look impossibly neat and empty, but to her this was the only part of her life that was allowed to be slightly chaotic. She had clothes hanging up in her closet in no particular order as well as her bookshelf that was jam packed and had random papers and pre-written essays stashed on it. There were sprinkles of her personality all throughout the room if you knew her well enough. Ron however always said it reminded him of a showroom at a furniture store instead of a place where someone actually lived and slept, but Hermione personally found it quite cozy. Walking over and flopping ungracefully onto her bed stomach first she slid her phone out of her back pocket and called Ron. She waited nervously tapping her fingers on her comforter as she pictured his reaction to her going on a lunch date to meet Draco’s parents.   
“Hey Mione, are you okay?”   
He said his voice doused with concern. Hermione smiled despite the nervous feeling in her stomach.   
“Yeah, I’m fine Ron I just got home about a half hour ago or so.”   
She said waiting for Ron to reply.   
“Well who was there- Are your parents upset- How bad was the damage?”  
Ron said bombarding her with questions barely stopping to breathe in between each one. Hermione couldn’t help but laugh as she listened to her boyfriend go on about how worried he was that one of the Malfoy’s had kidnapped and enslaved her in reparation for their statue.   
“Well, to answer your first question it was just Draco not one of his parents, and no my parents are not upset. As for the damage it is kind of bad but I’m just going to pay for it.”   
She knew Ron was bound to flood her with more questions so she cut in before he could.   
“Draco actually took the blame for the statue so he kind of saved my arse.”   
She finished with a light chuckle.  
“Malfoy saved your arse?! Why would he do that?”   
Ron asked disbelieving also sounding slightly upset. Hermione knew Ron was not going to like this, but Draco was right if he wound out some other way, he would wreak havoc.  
“That’s actually why I was calling.”   
She said pausing and rolling onto her back.   
“Like I said, it was Draco who found me outside his house, and he offered me deal.”  
Hermione paused looking at her phone as if it were a bomb about to go off, which wasn’t too far from her current situation.   
“What kind of deal.”  
Ron asked uneasily an edge creeping into his voice. Hermione sat quietly suddenly more scared than she had been previously to tell her boyfriend about this.   
“What kind of deal Hermione?”   
He asked again his voice deathly low. She suddenly felt like she was going to cry, and she wanted nothing more than to hang up the phone and pretend that this had never happened. She hated when Ron got like this. Whenever he spoke in that tone, she knew it was merely the calm before the storm. Still she lie there on her back unable to speak the words that she’d thought would flow so easily.   
“I’m going to ask one more time Mione, what deal?”  
He said in that cold and quiet tone again. Hermione sighed realizing she no longer had any time for stalling. She flipped restlessly back onto her stomach before answering.   
“He said he would tell his parents that he was the one who hit the statue if I went to lunch with him and his parents.”  
She said softly cringing in preparation for Ron’s outburst.   
“So he asked you on a date!”   
He roared. And Hermione swore she could feel the droplets of spit that were no doubt flying from his mouth.   
“And since you said he saved your arse I’m assuming you already agreed?”   
He asked seething. She flinched as she heard a loud thump come from Ron’s end of the line. Hermione scrambled to sit up hoping to say what she needed to say before Ron hung up.   
“No! Ron it’s not like that. “   
She cried while still trying to make sure her parents could not hear what she was saying.  
“He just needs me to have lunch with his parents once. He said he would pay for everything! My car repair, and my trip.”   
She said practically throwing up the words as she tried to hurry through the explanation. She heard Ron breathing heavily and for a split second she thought that maybe Ron would be understanding for once.  
“So what?”  
He said in a voice that was practically a hiss.  
“You’re a harlot now? Renting your services to whoever needs them.”  
He spat. Now Hermione was crying, quietly at first but her sobs grew louder with every word that he spoke. Ron heard this and it only seemed to fuel his anger.   
“And now you’re the one crying!? Let me get one thing through that bushy head of hair of yours. You are not the victim here. If you wanna cry, then cry but know this. You’re at blame here. You did this to yourself. You better pray that Malfoy wants to keep you because I can promise you that you’ll never find anyone that wants to date you again.”  
Hermione sat on her bed sobbing as she heard the boy that she loved break her heart repeatedly.  
“Thinking back, I’m not even sure why I dated you. You don’t dress well you have an annoying infatuation with books, and now I can add the fact that you’re a sugar baby to the list. “  
He yelled. Hermione quickly stood up from her bed. She may have been crying but she was not weak, and no way was she going to let Ronald have the last word.   
“I am NOT a harlot!”   
Hermione yelled no longer caring if her parents heard or not.   
“I told you it was one lunch. We could have spent more time together if after I got the money if you weren’t such a prick.”   
She said dropping her voice again. Closing her eyes and willing herself not to cry Hermione continued.   
“If you wanna point out my flaws fine, we can do that, but you better believe we’re going to talk about some of yours too. Because you’ve done nothing but treat me horribly since we started dating.”  
Hermione felt what felt like twenty pounds of weight lift off her shoulders as she finally admitted out loud that Ron was not the dashing prince charming, she pretended that he was in her mind.  
“You made me stop talking to my friends to make more time for you, and don’t think I forgot about all the times that you stood me up and left me waiting in restaurants all the while telling me that you were on the way while you were snogging lavender.”  
Hermione could no longer keep the tears from flowing but she spoke through them saying what her heart had been longing her to take note of for almost a year now.  
“I even forgave you for cheating on me and making me look like an idiot to the entire school- hell I even stopped talking to Harry for you because you didn’t trust him when really you were the one who couldn’t be trusted! Ronald Weasley, I have never lied to you or cheated on you, but if I had I’d say it’s about time someone gave you a taste of your own medicine. You have been nothing but a pompous ass to me and I’m not going to take it anymore.”  
She huffed, out of breath gripping her phone so tightly that her knuckles were white. Although she hated herself for it, she waited to see if he was going to reply, to say something that would make her forgive him and forget that this conversation had ever happened. Because as much as she didn’t want to admit it she had grown accustomed to the weight of his love, and though it felt nice to drop it for a second she was now beginning to feel the loss of it.   
“You don’t mean that Mione.”  
He said tenderly like he was talking to a worked up child. She knew what he expected to happen. She knew that he expected her to apologize because that’s what she always did. She even had to bite her tongue to prevent the words from tumbling out before she could stop them.   
“C’mon Mione I didn’t mean that, you know I didn’t I was just shocked is all.”  
He said after hearing Hermione pause longer than she typically would. She listened to his insincere apology and couldn’t help but compare it to the one Draco had given her earlier, sure he was cruel to her and she herself had wondered why she had forgiven him. Now as she listened to Ron tell her what he thought she wanted to hear she realized why; Draco’s apology held an intense sincerity that she had never felt or heard from Ron’s. Clinging to this newfound information like a lifeline Hermione opened her mouth and found that the words that she was looking for came effortlessly.   
“I’m sorry Ron.”  
She started and she could hear his sigh of relief. It almost made her cave at how excited he sounded to be out of the woods with her, but she knew that it would only be a couple of weeks before they ended back up here just as they always did.   
“But I don’t want to do this anymore. In fact, I don’t think I’d be able to even if I did want to. I’m sorry that it was such a chore to date me, but I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving me a perfect example of what love isn’t.”  
Hermione had barely finished the last word before she hung up the phone and sank to the floor feeling spent. She placed her hands over her ears and threw her phone on the ground in front of her as she heard Ron’s ringtone playing over and over again and she willed herself each time not to answer. She felt her resolve cracking and she prayed that he would stop calling or that it would magically stop, and whatever powers at be heard her cry and she saw that she had an incoming call from an unknown number. Not caring or knowing who it was she scrambled to grab the phone with her trembling hands. Her entire body was shaking so hard from the sheer pain being emitted from her tears that she had to try multiple times to swipe the button to answer the call.  
“Hello?”  
She croaked quickly needing something to take her mind off the texts she felt coming to her phone.  
“Granger?”  
Said the voice from the other side. Hermione’s swelling eyes widened as much as they could as she recognized who the speaker was. She had heard that aristocratic voice so many times usually to taunt her or some other poor person. No one else was stiff enough to call her by her last name, but she had never been happier to hear it.   
“Malfoy?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry if you think I wrote out Ron too quickly, but this is just kind of flowed out as I was writing. I hope you enjoy lmk what you think! <3


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry classes are kicking my butt also I've spent all my free time playing among us. Anyway I hope you enjoy this little chapter. The next one is halfway finished already so the wait won't be as long I swear.   
> Thanks for reading!

Draco spent the rest of his afternoon holed up in his room his mind reeling from his encounter with Hermione. She wasn’t afraid to tell him things that he didn’t want to hear, he liked that. She made him feel on edge, it was something about the quiet strength that seemed to float around her like a shield. He was spurred out of his thoughts by the sound of a knock at his bedroom door. Draco stood up and made his way to the door and saw his mother smiling at him two bags in hand. She peaked over Draco’s shoulder and back at him perplexed.   
“What are you grinning about?”   
Narcissa asked pushing past Draco and nosily looking around his room hoping to find the source of his uncharacteristically bubbly mood. He leaned against the door frame and crossed his arms over his chest looking at his mother levity glinting in his Greyish blue eyes.   
“You won’t find anything in here because she went home.”  
He said spinning on his heel and walking towards the stairs. Her heard his mother gasp and as she lightly trailed after him her footstep almost inaudible.   
“What- she was here, and you didn’t tell me? I would have come home sooner!”   
She called trying to grab a hold of her son’s arm. Draco chuckled as he slowed so that his mother could catch up with him and they descended the stairs together.   
“She wasn’t here per say, but I did see her after school.”   
He said winking at his mother as he walked to the large marble island in the kitchen and grabbed an apple from the fruit bowl in the center. Narcissa stared at him her mouth in an o shape as he continued to smile and move about the kitchen.   
“She really is something else, you’ll love her.”   
Draco said chewing his apple thoughtfully as a lopsided smile appeared on his face as he remembered how Hermione had flicked him off. Narcissa watched mesmerized her son laughed to himself, and she swore she saw the faintest blush appear across his pale cheeks.   
“Tell me about her- what’s she like?”  
She exclaimed. anxiously wanting to know the girl who made her solemn Draco smile even after she had left. Narcissa sat as Draco took two more generous bites of his apple before shaking his head.   
“I-”   
He was suddenly stopped short when Lucius bellowed into the kitchen. His long black jacket that he wore year-round billowing behind him. Narcissa jumped from her chair seeing her husbands perturbed expression.   
“Lucius?”  
She said with vigor hurrying to his side and taking his brief case from him placing it on the floor by the stairwell. He scowled as he called for Evalyn the cleaning lady who came once a week to go clean up the mess outside. Draco stopped his chewing as his smile slowly slipped off his face. Evalyn came running down the stairs looking frazzled.  
“Yes sir?!”   
She said looking concerned at his expression. Lucius closed his eyes and leveled his tone before speaking to her.   
“Hi Evalyn, how are you doing?”   
He said trying to keep his calm not wanting to take his anger out on her. The Malfoy’s all liked Evalyn She was a little clumsy, but she was sweet, and could brighten any of their moods. Not to mention she was easy on the eyes and Draco had even found himself crushing on the young woman when they had first hired her. She would always compliment him for how his room was always so neat for his age. Not that there was much in there to make it dirty. It was merely a closet a bed and a nightstand with a desk in the corner, but still he made a special effort to tidy it up before Evalyn came by to clean it. Evalyn Regarded Draco’s father carefully before responding.  
“I’m quite well, and you?”  
She asked wondering what mess he had been talking about outside.   
“well I’m alright, but I’d be better if some imbecile hadn’t moved our statue into the road and run it over for a laugh.”   
He said rubbing his hand across his forehead angrily. Narcissa and Evalyn both emitted a gasp as their eyes turned into saucers.   
“I don’t recall it being broken when I got home a few minutes ago.”  
Narcissa said looking at her husband worried   
“But then again I wasn’t paying much attention.”  
She said quietly as she furrowed her eyebrows trying to remember. Draco too had a similar look on his face. He knew who had hit the statue, but he didn’t know who had moved it- hell he hadn’t even realized that it had been moved. Thinking back though it made sense, yes Granger was a horrible driver but if that statue had been on their driveway the way it was supposed to be, she would have just missed it. But there was no way Granger had moved it, he saw her pull in across the street and then when he looked up a few minutes later he saw the statue broken on the ground and her talking and frantically waving her hands around. That’s when he had gotten up and gone out there. Pulling himself out of his thoughts Draco tuned back into the conversation at hand.   
“We could check the cameras”  
He heard his mother say as if it were the best idea since paper money. Draco felt his blood run cold he had completely forgotten about the cameras, and if his parents checked the footage there would be nothing he could do to keep her from a lawsuit. He was about to begin his act and cry about how he must’ve accidentally hit it in haste to do homework when his father shook his head furiously.   
“That’s what I was thinking too, but the camera’s have been out since they were damaged in the storm last week and the repair guy isn’t coming until tomorrow. So, now we can’t even catch the little bastard.”  
He seethed as he walked over to where his brief case was sitting and snatched it up.   
“I’m going to the study to run some numbers. Draco go to the cellar and grab another statue to put out, there would you?”   
He said before turning his back and ascending the stairs. Narcissa went after him saying something about reading while he worked to keep him company. Seeing that everybody was going off on their own Draco went with Evalyn to go clean up outside. They chatted politely until there was nothing but a bit of dust that remained of the statue. Saying goodbye to Evalyn who kept her car in the garage Draco went to the cellar to get another statue. He had always thought his parents were ridiculous for getting more than two but apparently this was one of those rare occurrences where they were right. Sighing Draco grabbed a statue and began his journey back to the edge of the road. After nearly ten minutes of Draco wiggling the statue around trying to get it exactly in the dent that the last statue had left in the grass he looked at the pile of dust nearly a foot in front of it. He stood with his hands on his hips as he stared at the spot pondering how it could have moved. He was so deep in thought that he didn’t even notice the smiling woman staring at him from her window across the street. Deciding that there were just some things he would never know Draco turned to go back inside. Finally arriving back at his room he walked in and shut the door behind him curiously looking at the bags his mother had brought. He pulled on the ribbon handle and the bag dipped over and Draco snatched his hand back as he realized what it was.   
A suit!  
His mind reeled as he shoved the bag in his closet. There was no way he was going to that stupid ball. He hated it, all of it. The people you had to be friends with for connections sake, and the girls you were obligated to dance with because your parents were “friends.” He scoffed to himself as he pictured anyone from the country club actually being friends. How could you be when everyone was at competition with one another? Whose family had the most money, whose kids were most involved in the community. Everyone was constantly waiting for you to slip up, and no one was ever genuinely happy for others success’ because it meant that they were doing better than them. It was exhausting and he had sworn to himself that when he had a son, he would never have to endure the pressure of not making mistakes as a child in fear of tanking the family name. Suddenly feeling suffocated Draco quickly walked around his bed and threw open his large windows and stared into the evening sky watching as light-yellow faded into an angry orange. He ran a hand through his hair and the fought the urge to climb out the window and do something without truly thinking about. He wanted to do something reckless- something that would get his blood rushing and make him dizzy from excitement. Something he would think back on years from now and smile about something that would make his palms sweat and have his heart bursting out his chest. He wanted to…  
Call Hermione.   
A loud voice in the back of his head said. Draco stared out into the garden angrily. Why would he do that? He had no real reason to call, and it wasn’t like they were friends.   
It would be weird, and she probably won’t answer.   
Another more sensible voice that Draco typically ignored said to him as he turned away from his window and made a beeline for the desk where his phone was lying.  
She might.   
The louder voice said causing Draco to look at his pone as if it were a foreign object.   
And then what are you going to say? “Hi Granger, I was just calling because my picture-perfect life was making me feel claustrophobic and I knew hearing your voice would help for some reason?!”  
This thought made Draco frown even as he extended his hand and grabbed his phone scrolled through his contacts and found the one he was looking for.   
Don’t be a coward.   
The louder voice said, and Draco’s frowned deepened as he pressed the phone Icon. He stood stark still as it range. Once, twice, three times…  
She hasn’t answered! Just hang up and tell her it was an accident next time you see her it’s not too late! Just hang up and walk-  
“Hello?”  
A sniffly hoarse voice said from the other end of the phone. Draco’s eyes widened and he suddenly felt uncharacteristically nervous.   
“Granger?”   
He asked. Rolling his eyes at his own stupid question.   
Of course it’s her you daft. who else would be answering her phone?  
Draco sat cautiously waiting for Hermione to reply. It seemed like hours before she finally spoke as if she had just realized who it was.  
“Malfoy?!”   
She exclaimed sounding as if she was crying. Yes, that was it she was crying. Hard too, and something in him ached at the sound of it.   
“Are you okay Granger?”  
He asked not caring if he sounded genuinely concerned for once. He heard more crying and sniffling as Hermione tried to pull herself together enough to answer.   
“Yeah, Yeah I’m fine. I just cry on my floor for fun sometimes.”   
She said bitterly with a fake laugh. Draco winced at the harsh tone in her voice as he heard more sniffling. Not used to comforting people he stood silently trying to think of something to say that would help, but for some reason a chorus of false affirmations didn’t seem appropriate. Hermione groaned as Draco assumed, she was getting off the floor.  
“Sorry.”  
She mumbled as he heard her flop onto something, most likely her bed.  
“That was harsh.”  
She said dejected. Even though she still sanded upset she didn’t appear to be crying anymore, or at least he couldn’t hear it anymore.   
“Your parents were that mad about the car?”  
He asked assuming she was crying because she had gotten in trouble. He listened as Hermione let out a song of clipped laughter   
“I wish. They didn’t even care once I told them I was going to pay for it.”  
Draco pulled at his desk chair and sat down. He picked up a pencil in his left hand and twirled it around his fingers. He heard phone chime loudly multiple times. Each time eliciting a small gasp from Hermione.  
“Geeze Granger. Who’s blowing up your phone this Friday evening?”   
He was only half joking when he asked though. He genuinely wanted to know who was texting her so fervently that each new chime interrupted the last.  
“That would be Ronald.”   
She said darky without elaborating. Now, Draco was all for respecting boundaries and he would have normally left this topic alone, but he didn’t like Weasley. Something about him that he couldn’t place seemed slightly off. He even remembered wondering why Hermione would date someone like him.   
“Oh…was he mad about our deal.”   
He said trying not to sound to interested in her love life. He heard Hermione moving around in her bed before she answered.   
“Oh, he was livid. He totally went off the deep end called me harlot. Me! A harlot!”  
She said shrilly more chimes sounding from her phone. Draco shifted in he seat.   
“Maybe you should call him Granger. I know if my girlfriend was on the phone with another guy while we were fighting, I’d-”  
“Ex- girlfriend.”  
Hermione cut in solemnly. The pencil dropped from Draco’s long fingers as he froze. He felt guilty and he rarely felt guilty about anything unless his parent’s were involved.   
“Granger- I’m sorry was it because-”  
Seeming to realize that she had implied that he was the cause of her breakup Hermione piped in.  
“No! It wasn’t because of our deal. I mean it kind of was but, he’s been a real prick to me since we started dating. I guess it just took me being cheated on and being called a harlot before I noticed.”  
She said miserably sounding as if she was about to cry again. Draco himself was puzzled. He had known about the whole Weasley Brown scandal, but he hadn’t known that he’d treated her poorly their entire relationship. The thought made Draco a bit upset, sure she wasn’t the prettiest girl on planet earth, but she could do worlds better then Ronald Weasley.  
“What did he do?”  
Draco asked quietly hoping she wouldn’t be upset at him for prying. He breathed a sigh of relief as Hermione began speaking. Apparently, she had been wanting to get this off her chest.  
“For starters.”  
Hermione said sounding as if she was getting out of bed. Draco smirked as he realized that this list my be a good bit longer than he thought.   
“He would always bring up how much better Lavender was at everything.”  
She scoffed sounding disgusted.  
“I know you don’t wanna talk about it Mione but, gosh would it kill you to try and look attractive? I mean and you wonder why I cheated on you.”  
Hermione said painfully slowly in a deep voice that he presumed was supposed to be an impression of Ron.  
“He said that!?”  
Draco asked in disbelief as he rose from his chair and walked towards his room door.   
“Uh huh”  
Hermione said in an “I know right?!” Kind of way. He shook his head as he opened his room door and walked to the steps taking them two at a time.   
“It gets worse though. I went to visit my grandparents last summer and I had my phone off for the plane ride. When I turned it back on, I had TWO-HUNDRED missed calls from him.”  
Draco’s eyebrow raised in wonderment as he walked out the back door in his kitchen that lead to the garden in the backyard.  
“He’s persistent. I’ll give him that.”   
He said as he stepped of the small patio and into the plush grass.  
“You haven’t heard the worst part though.”   
Hermione continued as he heard her moving about in her room.   
“He showed up at my house and woke my parents up at five in the morning banging on the door and yelling about how I better not be cheating on him.”  
Draco had dropped onto the grass his long legs extended out any front of him as Hermione spoke. Now his jaw dropped as he imagined Weasley red in the face spit falling from his crazed mouth as he woke up the entire neighborhood.   
“He didn’t…”  
Draco said shock and embarrassment dancing together in his voice.   
“He. Did.”  
Hermione said solemnly.   
“He was just so… so mean for no reason. Like he yells at me for working and saving up for my dream trip because “I don’t make time for him anymore.” And he would constantly tell me how lucky I was that he found me attractive and wanted to date me because nobody else would.”  
She said her voice thickening on the last part.   
“uh! He was just so-”  
“Abusive.”  
Draco suggested not caring if it upset her. He tensed as he heard her phone chime again, it had been going off during her whole rant but that last one was louder. It rang in his ears -it hung in the air, and it made him feel physically ill.  
“He wasn’t abusive!”  
Hermione cried indignantly.  
“He never hit me once.”  
She said proudly as if she had just won the spelling bee and was telling her parents. Draco fell onto his back and rolled his eyes as he stared at the steadily darkening sky.   
“Granger, you and I both watch those toxic relationship videos at school every year, which in turn means that we both know that abuse isn’t just physical.”  
He stopped, waiting to see if Hermione was going to yell at him or hang up, but he still heard her breathing, so he continued.  
“It can verbal and mental too, and I’m sorry Granger but what you just described checks both boxes.”  
He said as Hermione started to cry again. He laid there staring up into the universe as he listened to a strange girl who he’d known but never really known his entire life weep.  
“I’m sorry if I overstepped.”   
Draco said moments later closing his eyes. He had apologized more today than he probably had in his entire life. Hermione took a moment to calm her nerves before answering.   
“No- you told me what I needed to hear.”  
She said sounding exhausted.  
“god, I’m just so stupid.”  
Draco had to resist the urge scream as he heard her notifications go off.   
“You need to block him.”  
He said suddenly startling himself. He just knew that he had pushed too hard this time that she was about to go off on him at any second.  
Shit! that was not your place-  
“I can’t.”  
Hermione said sounding puzzled like she had just realized this for the first time.   
“I-I want to, but I can’t. I want nothing to do with him…”  
“But you want to have his number just in case.”  
Draco finished. Abruptly cross for no reason. This conversation was no longer the escape that Draco had wanted and suddenly he felt like his phone was burning his face.   
“You don’t have to do it now, just wait until you’re ready.”  
He said sitting up his usual scowl settling onto his face.   
“Look Granger I gotta go. We’ll talk later.”  
He said wanting nothing more than to stay on the phone with her and convince her not to get back together with the Weasley bloke, but she would. She always did, and for someone reason this upset him immensely.   
“Oh. Okay.”  
Hermione said not bothering to mask her disappointment. Draco was about to say goodnight and hang up when she spoke again.   
“Why’d you call anyway? Did you need something.”  
She asked sounding hopeful.  
You called and didn’t even have an excuse ready. How did you think this was going to pan out?   
Draco thought to himself furious that he had allowed himself to act so impulsively. If he had never called her, he wouldn’t have the strange ache that had settled at the base of his chest. he would have just done his homework or read a book and he wouldn’t be so worried about her getting off the phone with him and running back Weasley, but he did call and now she was asking for a reason why.   
“It was about the plan, but I see it’s not a good time.”  
He said hoping that would get him off the hook. He heard Hermione chuckle   
“No trust me. Now’s a great time.”  
Draco mentally kicked himself as he quickly wracked his brain.  
“Uh, we need to go shopping for tea clothes… unless you already have some.”  
He lied feeling like it was painfully obvious. Hermione made him irrationally nervous and he hated and loved it at the same time.   
“You got me.”  
She said trying to sound lighthearted even as her voice cracked from being hoarse.   
“When do you wanna go?”  
Draco who had begun to stand up froze.   
“Tomorrow if you’re free.”   
He said coolly before he could process it.   
“…okay, do you wanna meet at my house tomorrow. And go from there?”  
Draco’s heart suddenly began to increase its speed.  
“Yeah, sure just text me your address. I should be there before eleven.”  
He wasn’t sure how, but he was able to say that without showing how elated he was that she had agreed.   
“Well I’ll see you tomorrow Draco… and thanks for letting me bore you with my problems.”  
She said sounding much better than she had previously.   
“Don’t mention it.”  
He said as the stupid grin that had plastered itself to his face spread.   
“Goodnight Granger.”  
He said as he rubbed the back of his neck.   
“Goodnight.”  
She said quietly. Draco paused before hanging up and he heard her release a large breath like she’d been holding it in for a while. Draco sat in the grass trying to convince himself that he wasn’t excited to see Hermione that he was just bored, and that he was only smiling because Blaise must have laced his food. But still he sat staring and grinning into the night until his mother called him for dinner.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I LOVE YOU GUYS <3


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok this took longer than I wanted it to because I got sick and I had to get tested for Corona which is concerning because I haven't really been any where since march. Like I even get my groceries delivered so I've had little to no contact with anyone outside my house cos I'm high risk because my lungs *Suck* So I'm still waiting on my results but I felt a bit better today so I decided to finish writing this chapter. I hope you enjoy <3

Hermione had gone downstairs after getting off the phone with Draco and went to watch Television with her parents. They had known something was wrong when she wedged herself between them and had nestled her head on her father’s shoulder without saying a word. She remembered getting drowsy but had no memory of going up the stairs and crawling in bed or setting and alarm. She sat up angrily peering through her swollen eyes at her phone and was about to roll over and go back to sleep after shutting off the offending noise. before a text from Draco caught her eye.   
Ok, see you tomorrow.   
Her stomach jumped as she quickly stumbled out of bed and did a drunkard looking walk down the hall to the washroom. Looking at herself and glancing at the clock on the wall she groaned. She had roughly three hours to make herself look presentable. Slowly walking down the stairs Hermione smelled coffee and heard her parents murmuring about what they had lined up for the day.   
“Hi sweetheart”   
Her father said sweeping her up in warm hug when he saw her walk into the kitchen. Hermione basked in the protective embrace and breathed in deeply feeling comforted by the smell of her father’s cologne. Finally pulling away from the much-needed hug Hermione smiled gratefully at her mother who had refrigerated two spoons for her the night before. Taking the spoons, she hopped up on one of the kitchen barstools before pressing the backs of the spoons on her eyes. Her parents shared a concerned look before her mother spoke.   
“Hermione dear, what happened last night?”   
She asked lightly. Accustomed to her daughter’s outburst when pushed to talk about something she didn’t want to talk about. Hermione grunted and continued holding the cold metal against her eyes before answering.   
“I broke up with Ron.”  
She said flatly and she heard as her mother tried to hold in a gasp. Wendell’s eyes widened and he sheepishly rubbed the back of his neck.   
“You know we were only kidding last night, right? We didn’t really want you to break up with him.”  
He said guiltily. Hermione removed the spoons from her eyes and looked at her parents already tired of this conversation.   
“I know, I didn’t break up with him because of what you guys said. Draco said the same thing you know. what is it with people wondering if they’re the cause of your breakup?”  
She asked bitterly unaware of her slip up. Her Mother looked at her strangely.   
“Draco Malfoy? I haven’t heard you talk about him since grade school. How is he now?”  
She asked. Hermione snatched the spoons down from her eyes and chuckled awkwardly.   
“Oh, he’s good Taller too.”  
She said screaming internally at her mistake. Her mother smirked at her and her Father furrowed his eyebrows at his wife confused.   
“So, you’ve been talking to him then?”  
She asked excitedly leaning on the counter. Hermione who wanted nothing more than to fall into the abyss shook her head standing up.   
“Yeah I’m not doing this.”  
She said as she walked to the sink and dropped the two spoons in.  
“I have plans today I don’t know when I’ll be home, but it won’t be late.”  
She said trying to make a dash for her bedroom.  
“With Draco?”  
Her mother asked impishly wiggling her eyebrows at her. Hermione groaned and let her head flop back as she turned to face her parents a light blush staining her cheeks.   
“Yes! Okay, yes. I’m going to hang out with Draco, but just as friends”   
She said pleading with her eyes for them not to say anything more to embarrass her. Her mother threw her hand up in surrender smiling lightly.   
“Are you guys in a rush to head out? We can have snacks before you guys go.”  
She said excitedly. Hermione’s eyes widened and she looked at her dad silently begging him to make her mother stop. Grinning he nodded his head at his daughter knowingly before grabbing his wife’s purse.   
“Maybe next time hon, we’re already late meeting the Lovegood’s”   
He said looking at his watch and moving toward the front door. Monica pouted playfully before sighing dramatically.   
“Oh, all right.”  
She said walking over and kissing the top of her daughter’s head.  
“Have fun and be safe. Lock the doors when you get home we’ll be home later in the night.”   
She said joining her father by the door.  
“We’re going to a winery a few hours from, and then we’re going to a dinner theater.”  
She said opening the door while taking her small purse off her husband’s shoulder. After another hug from her parents the front door finally shut and Hermione sprang into action as soon as their car pulled away. Running up the stairs two at a time Hermione rushed into her room. She picked up her phone and saw that she had 15 voice mails from Ron scoffing and tossing it onto her bed she rushed and began getting ready. She wanted to look good today. Not for Draco, but because of Draco. It was no secret that he was attractive. Hermione thought to herself blushing wildly as she did so. She just didn’t want to look like the ugly duckling next to him. Throwing open her closet Hermione stared hoping that the perfect outfit would just fly out and land neatly on her bed. Groaning when this did not occur, she began to sift through her closet looking for something presentable to wear. It was still considerably warm out so she grabbed a satin light pink bodycon skirt that ended mid-calf and a white tight fitting v neck crop top that only left a small sliver of her stomach showing. Hermione smiled at herself in her floor length mirror. She hadn’t liked the outfit at first, but her mother had told her that it looked “very becoming” and it had been an outfit she felt confident in ever since. Walking down the hall to her bathroom she put some light coverage tinted moisturizer on her face to even out her skin but leave the sprinkle of freckles across her nose visible. She applied light blush and a mist that made skin look dewy on her face when she heard her phone ringing. Her heart hammered as she tried her best to keep herself from running to her phone. Half skipping and half walking back to her room. The smile that she wasn’t even aware that had sprung across her face slipped off as she saw that it was Ron who was calling and not Draco. She picked up the phone with every intention to decline but found herself accepting the call despite her better wishes.   
“What.”  
She said rudely not caring about phone etiquette. There was only silence on the other end of the phone and Hermione was growing annoyed. Partly with herself for answering and partly because she was tired of wasting time on Ron.  
“Goodbye Ronald-”  
“Wait!”  
Ron shouted sounding as if he had been holding his breath for the past couple of minutes. Hermione stood staring out of her window her lips pursed.  
“We need to talk. I hate how we ended things last night.’  
Hermione didn’t know what to say, so she didn’t say anything.   
“I know you’re mad, and I know you probably hate me-”  
Hermione felt the urge to scream. It was like his voice was causing her physical pain, and she couldn’t take any more of it.   
“I have to go.”   
She said cutting off whatever sappy speech he had prepared. She promptly hung up the phone and made her way back to the bathroom. She was so caught up in her thoughts that she had applied two coats of mascara before she noticed the doorbell ringing. Hermione screwed the cap on and cautiously made her way down the stairs. She quietly approached the front door and stood on her tiptoes to look through the peep hole. She flung the door open her tense shoulders relaxing.   
“You scared the crap out of me.”  
Hermione said as she looked up at Draco who smirked down at her before responding.  
“I called, but the line was busy.”  
He said giving her a knowing look. They stood there awkwardly for a few moments before Hermione spoke again.   
“Well I’m not quite ready yet, and I can’t very well leave you out here so…”  
She said trailing off and stepping to the side of the doorway with her arm extended as Draco had done the day before. He shook his head and chuckled as he shoved his hands in his pocket and crossed the threshold his head only a few inches away from scraping the top of the doorframe.   
“You know, your house actually is quite nice.”  
He said sincerely with a hint of surprise as Hermione turned to close the door as she scoffed and jokingly rolled her eyes.   
“Gee thanks. Got any other back handed compliments for me today.”  
She said flatly trying not to blush as she realized Draco was following her up the stairs. Her mind reeled as his footsteps echoed each of hers. It was strangely intimate to Hermione, and she tried to talk herself out of overreacting.   
Relax. Of course, he’s coming up here he can’t just stand in the foyer waiting for you.   
She chastised herself feeling silly for allowing herself to get so worked up over something so insignificant. They arrived at her room and she was suddenly nervous that he was seeing her it. It wasn’t messy it was just her personal space and it was odd to show it to someone she wasn’t that close to. She tried to busy herself as she felt Draco’s eyes scanning her room. She sat on the edge of her bed and began to put on her black Jaden’s.   
“If I saw a picture of this room somewhere, I would immediately know it was yours.”  
Draco said breaking the silence as he walked across the room as he took a seat in her bay window directly across from her. Hermione looked up at him still tying her shoes.   
“Is that so?”  
She asked. Raising an eyebrow. Draco nodded.  
“You have a certain quality about you, it’s reflected in your room.”  
He said standing up and nodding his head toward her closet.  
“For example, your closet. It isn’t as neat as you want it to be, so you only leave it partially open. You don’t redo it because when you’re not studying your either reading or working.”  
He said walking over to her bookshelf which was crammed with books that also had the topless baseball cap her job gave her hanging off of it. He shrugged as he looked back at her. Hermione nodded; impressed that he was so observant.  
“Well, are you ready to go Sherlock?”  
She asked standing up and snatching her phone and purse off the bed. Draco turned and looked her up and down, staring for longer than necessary. Hermione saw a flash of something she couldn’t pinpoint in his eyes, and she felt goose flesh on her arms as she swore, she could feel his cool eyes burning into her skin. Draco finally blinked and Hermione found herself breathing a sigh of relief mixed with disappointment when his intense gaze was no longer on her.   
“Yes, come along Watson.”  
He said trying to make his voice resemble that of an old mans. As he turned on his heel and walked out the room without waiting for her to follow. Feeling that whatever had just passed between them was gone Hermione rolled her eyes and followed after him. Draco’s car was the exact car you imagine when you think of him. It was sleek and black and probably cost more than a few of the sizable houses in her neighborhood combined. The front of the car sloped down and came to a slight point and rims on his wheels were a bright silver. She watched as Draco furrowed his face at something as he squatted down and rubbed a cloth that he had snatched out his pocket on the wheel. He stood and opened the door looking back at her.   
“She’s beauty, isn’t she?”  
He asked taking note of her expression. Sounding like a proud father. Hermione couldn’t help but admit that it was a nice car, gorgeous actually, and she wasn’t even a car person.   
“This is a really nice car.”  
She said nodding. She caught a glimpse of herself in his window as she ducked down and sat on the warm leather seats.   
“Isn’t the dark tint illegal?” She asked as Draco closed the door and jogged around the car. He opened the door and slid into the seat.   
“probably.”  
He said shrugging indicating that he really did not care as he reached out and shut his door. Hermione laughed lightly at his disregard for rules and turned to look at him.   
“Where are we going anyway?”  
She asked placing her purse next to her on the seat. Draco turned the key in the ignition and looked at her.  
“Just some shops my mom likes shop at.”  
He said before putting on his seatbelt and pulling out of her driveway. The car felt like it was floating, Hermione could see the trees moving by rapidly as he turned down an unfamiliar road. Draco took note of Hermione’s troubled expression and arched an eyebrow.   
“I go the back roads so I can drive faster.”   
He said not taking his eyes off the road as he spoke. Hermione nodded as an awkward silence settled over the two. They could have a conversation if they really tried, but they weren’t friends by any stretch of the imagination.   
“You can have the aux cord if you want.”  
Draco said nodding his head down to where it was lying across the glove compartment. Hermione reached for it grateful that there would be some noise in the car. She went to her favorite playlist and was just about to play it when her fingers faltered. What if he didn’t like it? Ron would always act like the world was ending when he listened to her music, and now she was scared Draco would do the same. Ripping the chord out of her phone with more force than need Hermione huffed and looked out the window. Draco who still had his eyes trained on the road was watching her from the corner of his eye.  
“What now Granger?”  
He asked feigning annoyance. Hermione shrugged and sighed quietly before answering.   
“You won’t like my music, nobody does.”  
She finished darkly still watching the trees and crossing her arms over her chest. She was aware that she was being moody for no reason, but she wasn’t sure that she was up for Draco’s usual jokes and teasing today.   
Maybe this was a bad idea.  
She thought to herself as she suddenly became acutely aware of the fact that she was alone with Draco Malfoy the day after she had broken up with Ron. What if someone saw them together people really would think she was a harlot.  
“I’m sure It can’t be that bad.”  
Draco said breaking her out of her reverie. Shrugging he took one hand off the wheel and nudged the chord into Hermione’s lap. She blushed for no reason as his fingers accidentally brushed the fabric of her skirt. She paused looking at the chord before plugging the jack into her phone and pulling up her favorite song. The music flooded the car and she looked sheepishly at Draco as she took note of the perplexed look on his face.   
“You listen to jazz instrumentals?”  
He asked astonished as he glanced away from the road and at Hermione.  
“I knew it. You hate it.”  
She said a small smile playing at her lips. Even though she suspected Draco didn’t love her music he wasn’t condescending about it like Ron would have been.   
“It’s all right. I’ll put you out of your misery.”  
She said picking her phone up again. Draco jutted his hand out and placed it on top of hers stopping her from unplugging her phone.  
“Granger I wasn’t joking when I said we needed to walk on your confidence.”  
Hermione opened her mouth indignantly, and Draco continued talking as he moved his hand away from hers a stern but light expression gracing his features.   
“It’s not a bad thing, you just need to be confident in what you’re doing. You have to stop looking for validation from people that don’t matter.”   
He looked at her quickly before retraining his steely eyes onto the road. Hermione sat not sure what to say.   
“Now, do you like this song?”  
He asked her. She nodded her head   
“Yeah, it’s my favorite actually.”  
Draco nodded as he reached out and turned up the volume.  
“Then this is what we’re going to listen to. Besides, I quite like jazz myself.”  
He said letting down the top of his car. Hermione couldn’t help but smile as the wind whipped across her face and Draco played drums on the steering wheel with his fingers. She laughed a brilliant laugh as she caught a glimpse of herself in the side mirror and found that she didn’t even care that the wind was messing up her hair.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If no one has told you today. You're worth it and I love you <3


	7. Chapter 7

Draco smiled as he stole glances at Hermione while he drove. Her hair flew around her like a golden halo, and he couldn’t help but feel at ease by her presence. They had just finished their rendition of Watermelon Man when he pulled into the parking lot of his mother’s favorite boutique Queen Simona.   
“I never knew you like jazz!”  
Hermione said incredulously smiling hugely as he put the top back up on his car before switching it off. He turned to face her readjusting his silk white shirt.   
“What can I say, I’m a man of many trades.”  
He said chuckling as she rolled her eyes at him getting out of the car. Draco scrambled to get out after grabbing her purse that she had left on the seat. Locking his car Draco walked around it and took a few long strides to catch up with Hermione. He hadn’t had the guts to tell her, which was odd for him, but he thought she looked beautiful. Her outfit was effortlessly flattering, and her wind-blown hair was quite hot in his opinion. He pulled open the door of the boutique and held it open above her head allowing her to walk under his arm. He passed off her purse to her as she walked under effortlessly as if it was something they had done many times before.   
“The clothes in here are so nice.”  
Hermione said stopping next to Draco who was rifling through a rack of sun dresses. He pulled one out and held it up to her shaking his head and shoving it back on the rack. Already tired of looking through the rack he motioned for a saleswoman to come help them. The short blonde came up to the pair flashing them a perfect smile.   
“How can I help you today?”  
She chirped cheerfully facing Hermione. She faced Draco not sure what to say. He chuckled at her before turning to face the blonde.   
“She’s meeting my parents for the first time, so something flattering but modest.”   
He said, the women looked at the two of them and clapped her hands together gleefully.   
“You guys are too cute. I suspected you guys were a couple with coordinating outfits and all, but I didn’t want to assume.” She gushed.   
Draco looked down at Hermione who was looking at his outfit quizzically. The saleswomen was right. They had unintentionally coordinated. Draco was wearing a white satin shirt that was tucked into his khaki pants that were almost pink. As per usual the first four buttons of his shirt were left undone making for a faux V-neck. Draco chuckled at the women as Hermione smiled ruefully at Draco before following the women into the dress section.   
“These are great for Sunday brunches.”  
She chattered happily as she pulled out dresses for Hermione to try on.   
“You guys can use dressing room six, and if you don’t like these, I’ll pull some more for you Okay!”  
She said passing the heap of dresses to Draco. Before dashing off to the front counter to help another costumer. Draco followed Hermione to the dressing room and stopped short when she suddenly whipped around to face him.   
“You’re not coming in, are you?”  
She asked nervously blushing. He smiled as the blush seeped across her face and readjusted the dresses in his and pulled the curtain back.  
“See? Two sections, one for you to change in and one for me to wait in. You can just come out to show me the dresses.”   
He finished walking in and settling into the armchair in the waiting room. Hermione walked over to him and took the dresses into the second compartment and pulled the second curtain shut. Draco sat and drummed his fingers on the arms of the chair waiting impatiently for her to come out. He hadn’t sat for more then a few minutes before he grew bored and wanted to annoy her.  
“Christ Granger, how much longer?”  
He whined sinking into the seat.  
“Shut up Malfoy.”  
Hermione said muffled sounding preoccupied.   
He smirked as he began picking lint off the chair when he heard the curtain being slid back.   
“What do you think?”  
Hermione asked holding her arms out to the side and chewing her lip nervously. She had on a dark green dress with thin straps. The color looked as if it had been mixed with her olive toned skin in mind. The dress had lowcut top and tied at the waist landing in delicate ruffles against her mid-thigh. Draco found himself unable to speak as he took in the sight before him. The dress fit her like a glove and while it might have looked too revealing on anyone else it complimented her perfectly.   
“You look amazing.”  
He said earnestly looking up at her nodding his head in approval. He took note of the light blush the creeped it’s way across her cheeks as she turned her face away from him slightly.   
“Really?”  
She asked unsurely spinning slowly allowing him to look at the full dress. Draco rolled his and scrunched his nose before responding.  
“Do I strike you as someone who would lie to cushion someone’s feelings?”  
He asked leaning back in the chair and raising an eyebrow. Hermione smiled and shook her head shyly.   
“No, I suppose not.”  
She said tucking a piece of hair behind her ear and examining herself in the mirror. The silence that had befallen the two was shattered when Hermione’s purse which Was hung on the back of Draco’s chair began to vibrate.   
“Is that…”  
He asked uneasily trailing off the grin that had been on his lips disappearing. Hermione nodded obviously recognizing the ring tone and quickly walked over and fumbled with the clasp on her bag. She sighed frustrated and continued trying to rip it open. Draco watched unsure what he should do. He wanted to help her, but he also didn’t want her to talk to Ron. He hated the shadow that casted itself over her face whenever she spoke of him, and the sound of her broken sobs the night before was still fresh in his mind. He was still trying to contemplate what to do when Hermione opened the purse. She glanced at him before declining the call and silencing her phone. She shoved it as far down as she could and closed it up again. A thick silence settled over the two as neither knew what to say. Draco had been so consumed with her presence that he had forgotten that she wasn’t actually his, and he hated that it upset him. He didn’t want anyone. He wanted to live his life without his parents breathing down his neck, he didn’t want to escape one relationship to begin a new one, all of his work would be for nothing if he did. She would go back to Weasley as she always did, and he would get the family company and his freedom. Shaking his head slightly and clearing his throat he spoke.   
“You should change, we’ll just get that one”  
He said in a low voice refusing to meet her brown eyes as they tried to catch his. Hermione stood not moving for a moment or two before nodding her head and silently walking back into the changing area, and as hard as he tried not to, he couldn’t help but look at her as she gave him one last confused glance around the curtain. He breathed in greedily as the thick air became thinner and more manageable for his lungs.   
this was not a good idea   
He thought to himself as he stared at Hermione’s silhouette through the curtain. Her back was to him, but he could see her shrugging off the dress. He quickly snapped his head away and stood up, no longer able to be in the small space. He threw the curtain separating them from the rest of the store aside and stalked to the front counter shoving his hands deep in his pockets. He made his way to the front desk momentarily clearing the stormy expression from his face as he approached the friendly women from before.  
“Excuse me.”  
He said to the women’s back before she turned around giving him a bright smile.  
“My girlfriend is still in there trying things on.”  
He said loathing the way that his stomach flipped when he referred to Hermione as his girlfriend.   
“I need to go to the car and make a quick phone call, but could you tell her to get a couple dresses and some accessories and charge them to the Malfoy account.”  
He finished flashing her a grin. The women nodded at him before pressing a few buttons on the computer screen behind the desk.   
“I’ll let her know when she comes out!”  
She chirped as she went back to folding the stack of clothes behind her. Draco turned on his heel barely able to stop himself from sprinting out the door as the dark clouds settled over his face again. He was grateful when he was finally in the safety of his car. What was he thinking? Calling her last night had been a mistake. Now he was comforting her and joking around with her. Hell, he had even planned to take to a lunch spot that he liked after this.   
“This won’t do.”  
He said aloud as stared out his windshield at a couple walking in front of his car. Hermione was funny, and she was good, but he couldn’t allow himself to get wrapped up. They both knew she belonged to Weasley, and although he supposed he already was he didn’t want to get involved in their mess. Plus, there was no way he was going to let a high school crush derail all the plans he had for himself. Draco sighed as continued to stare out the window. He knew he was being ridiculous. nothing bad would happen if he dated her. So why was he so adamant about not letting it happen?   
You’re scared.   
A voice whispered in the back of his head. Draco’s already stormy expression deepened. He had nothing to be afraid of, but the more he thought about the more he realized it to be true. Every time he felt anything positive there was always fear hidden in the mix. Fear that whatever was happening was too good to be true, that it was joke or that someone was using him. However, the fear he felt about Hermione was different, it wasn’t selfish. He was scared to hurt her, scared he wasn’t good enough for her and most of all he was scared to lose her. How was it possible to get so attached so little time? She had always been in his life, but never apart of it. The moment she stepped in she had brought joy that he hadn’t experienced since their harmless and entertaining bickering in grade school. Draco let out a low sound as he slammed his hand against the steering wheel. He liked her. He wasn’t even going to waste time trying to deny it, but if fully admitted to caring about someone other than himself he would have to act an on it. He would have to tell her because that was the way he operated, but if he told her and for some ungodly reason, she reciprocated those feelings he would break her. She needed someone caring and gentle and couldn’t give her that, he didn’t know how to. Draco sighed restlessly and ran his long fingers through his hair. The car door opened just as he thought he was about to go mad. Hermione leant down and peered into the car catching Draco’s eyes with her own.   
“Sorry I took so long I-… Are you okay?”  
She asked noting his dark expression. He ripped his eyes away from hers and stared past her knowing he wouldn’t be able to lie to her is her concerned eyes were still holding him captive.   
“Yeah, I just needed some air.” He said finally looking back at her face. Hermione chuckled and got into the car completely oblivious to the internal turmoil he was facing.   
“You needed air, so you got in your hot car with the windows up?”  
She asked playfully raising an eyebrow at him. Draco cringed as he felt himself mentally drawing back. Familiar with the numb feeling that was encompassing him.  
“Can you just close the door so we can go?”  
He said his voice sounding bored and aggravated. He tried to ignore the way that his stomach twisted at the confused expression on her face as he looked at her.   
“Sorry.”  
She said quietly as she reached out a slender arm to shut the door. Draco blinked and tore his eyes away from her and started the car. They sat in tense silence the entire ride, he was almost home free when Hermione decided to break it.  
“Did I do something?”  
She asked looking at him silently pleading him to tell her what was going on. Draco gripped the steering wheel wiling himself not to look at her. He was doing his best to shut her out, and here she was concerned about him. He felt sick to his stomach at the genuine worry it her voice.  
“Because I’m sorry-”  
“Just stop!”  
He cried pulling to the side of the empty road and parking the car.  
“Stop apologizing for things that aren’t your fault.”   
He finished huffing, and against his better judgement he turned to face her. She sat their shocked, her cheeks flushed with anger. She shook her head and turned to open the car door.   
“Granger, what are you doing?”  
He asked trying to keep the concern out of his voice.   
“Unlock the door Malfoy.”  
She said ignoring his question. He paused and stared at her back willing her to look at him.  
“Fine”  
He said sighing when she didn’t move. He unlocked doors of the car, but she didn’t make any move to get out the car but still left her hand on the handle.  
“It’s not safe to walk the back roads alone.”  
He said trying to sound helpful instead of condescending. When she still didn’t move or respond he sighed and got out the car.   
What are you going to do now?  
He asked himself as he stopped in front of her door. He opened the door and sat on the ground in front of her. She still wouldn’t look at him, so he began talking.   
“You’re not the one who needed to apologize, I was he said.”  
Trying to catch her eyes with his own. She continued to stare past him acting as if she hadn’t heard a word that he said.   
“I was in the wrong, and I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve that.”  
He said earnestly wanting nothing more than for her to look at him the way she had earlier.   
“I got a text that upset me, and I took it out on you.”  
He lied. He couldn’t very well tell her he had realized he cared about her and that was why he was upset.   
“It wasn’t right, and it’ll never happen again. I swear, I’ll let you key my car if I step out of line again.”  
He said holding up his right hand. Hermione looked down at him and small smile danced on her lips.   
“You’re a real prat you know?”   
She said still smiling at him as her eyes bore into his.   
“I’m working on it.”  
Draco said lightly not entirely sure if he was in the clear yet.   
“Honestly, you had me worried”  
She said suddenly serious.   
“I thought we were on our way to becoming actual mates, and then you went and started acting like Ronald.”  
She said staring at Draco wanting him truly to understand what she was saying.  
“I hated they way he made me feel, and you made me feel the same way.”  
Draco winced as the meaning of her words hit him full force.   
“I really am sorry. I’m serious If I ever remind you Weasley again just haul off and hit me.”  
Hermione grinned at this and nodded.   
“Oh, don’t worry, I was wasn’t exactly holding my breath for your permission.”  
She said chuckling as she shut the car door. Draco sat for a second and then stood up dusting the gravel off his pants as he walked back around to his side of the car. While he was walking, he decided that he was done with whatever plans he had made to distance himself from her. It wouldn’t be the end of the world if they ended up being friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I feel much better this week thank you for the well wishes. I love you guys <3


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little short, but I hope you enjoy!

Hermione and Draco were sitting by the window in a quiet lunch café. She suspected he was lying about what had upset him earlier but had decided not to pry. She was just happy that he had apologized, she like spending time with him he made her feel confident, and pretty. She blushed as she recalled the compliment he had given her in the dressing room. She hated the way she was always mentally comparing him to Ron especially since they weren’t dating, but Ron had never given her a compliment that wasn’t followed by an insult it was refreshing to have someone other than your parents tell you that you looked nice.   
“Okay, so what’s your favorite color.”  
Draco asked as he sat across from her sipping seltzer water from a straw. Hermione frowned a bit as she contemplated this and shrugged.   
“I honestly don’t know.”  
She said smiling and shaking her head. Draco scoffed and rolled his eyes   
“There is no way you don’t know your favorite color.”  
He said as if it were the most obvious thing in the world.   
“I’m serious!”  
She giggled as took a sip of her tea.   
“What’s your favorite color then?”  
Draco took a sip of his drink before answering.   
“Black”  
He said without missing a beat.  
Hermione looked at him quizzically.   
“That’s really your favorite color.”  
She said playful judgment evident in her voice. Draco’s mouth fell agape as he listened to Hermione.  
“You don’t even have a favorite color, but you’re going to judge mine?!”  
He asked incredulously chuckling. They both sat laughing to themselves and to anyone passing by they would have looked like old friends. Conversation was beginning to come easily and laughter easier.   
“Okay, okay next question.”  
Draco said quieting his laughter.   
“What’s your favorite book”  
He asked looking at her.  
“Oh, that’s easy, I love the great Gatsby.”

Draco put a hand on his forehead and flopped his head back dramatically.  
“Granger, that is so cliché”  
He said his eye sparkling lacking the fog that had been over them earlier. She shook her head and laughed indignantly.  
“It’s a good read.”  
She said as she rested her chin in the palm of her hand.  
“What about you, what does Draco Malfoy like to read?”  
She asked as he tilted his head to the side and narrowed his eyes at her.  
“Insomnia by Stephen King”  
He said shrugging and looking out the window. Hermione scrunched her nose.   
“How do you read that stuff, I went with Ron to see one his movies and we had to leave early.”  
Draco whipped his head back to face her and small smile beginning to slowly appear on his face.  
“Then it’s settled.”  
He said wiping his hands on his pants while raising an eyebrow at her.   
“Next time we hang out we’re going to see a horror film.”  
Hermione tried not let her eyes widen as she replayed his words in her mind  
“Next time”  
Her stomach flipped and a lopsided grin appeared on her face as she fully comprehended what he had said.  
“Next time?”  
She asked cheekily sipping her drink and looking up at him. Draco rolled his eyes at her and laughed loudly.  
“We’re supposed to be lover of two years, we’re going to have to hang out more than once.”

He said as looked at his lap a smile still playing at his lips. Hermione couldn’t help but let her gaze linger as she watched his hair fall forward. He looked like a statue. He looked up suddenly as if someone had called his name and locked eyes with her. She blushed furiously, but he seemed not to notice.   
“I have a real question.”  
He said leaning forward on his elbows. She nodded trying to ignore the smell of spearmint that came from his breath.  
“How come you call me Draco? No one other than my mother calls me that.”  
He said curiously. Hermione who had become very aware of how close her face was to his had to blink before the question registered in her mind. She leant back in her chair putting space between them and crossed her arms in her lap.  
“Honestly, I did it to annoy you in grade school, but I guess it just never felt right to call you Malfoy after that.”  
She said shrugging and looking at him wondering why he’d brought it up.  
“But you called me Malfoy in the car earlier”  
He said a dark expression briefly passing over his face momentarily.  
Hermione leant forward again their arms only separated by their two cups.  
“Well, I was upset with you earlier.”  
She sighed and turned her head to the side.   
“Why? Do you want me to call you Malfoy?”  
She asked as she turned back to face him. Draco now leant back in his seat and shook his head.   
“I quite like it when you call me Draco.”  
He said plainly sipping his drink.  
“You say it nicely.”  
He finished answering the unasked question dancing around her mind.   
She shook her head and tucked a piece of hair behind her ear trying to suppress the grin that threatened to spill across her face.   
“How come you call me Granger?”  
She asked playfully already knowing the answer. She began to laugh to herself waiting for him to respond.   
“Because nobody else does.”  
He said cutting off her laughter. She looked at him trying to decide if he was teasing or not.   
“Don’t be silly, you call everyone by their last names.”  
She said making it sound more like a question than an actual statement. Draco shook his head.   
“I stopped doing that after grade school. You’re the only person I still call by their last name religiously.”  
Hermione stopped and thought about it she had never noticed before, but he had stopped.  
“Wait, so why don’t you use my first name?”  
She asked staring at him her face a mask of confusion.  
“Maybe I’ll tell you some other time.”  
He said looking away staring out the window solemnly.  
Hermione was about to tell him that he hadn’t really answered the question when the waitress came back to grab their abandoned plates. She fought the urge to roll eyes as she saw the girl approach. She had been drooling over Draco the whole time she had been taking their orders and Hermione suspected her behavior would be the same.  
“Do you need a to go box?”  
She asked angling her body away from Hermione and toward Draco putting her chest dangerously close to his face as she leant forward to grab their plates. Hermione turned away from the scene and tried to ignore the pit in her stomach as the girl laughed flirtatiously at something Draco had said.   
“I think she might need a box.”  
Draco said nodding his head towards Hermione causing the girl to turn and acknowledge her. Hermione turned her head towards Draco and saw that he was staring at her intently. Blushing under his intense gaze she quickly shook her head.   
“oh, no thank you I don’t need a box.”  
She said smiling sweetly at the black-haired girl.   
She gave Hermione an unconvincing smile as she mumbled something about a check before walking off. She shifted in her seat as she tried to busy herself by digging in her purse for Chapstick. Realizing she had left it in Draco’s car she let out a frustrated sigh and looked up at him.   
“Why are you looking at me like that?”  
she asked feeling self-conscious as she placed her hands awkwardly in her lap. The waitress came back holding a miniature leather folder before he could respond. She placed it on the table and paused looking at Draco.  
“If you’re paying cash just put it inside and hand it to the women at the front counter, if it’s a card or check I’ll have to come back by and get it.”  
She said putting extra emphasis on the last part. When Draco only nodded without looking at her she huffed and walked away leaving the two alone again.   
“Draco-”  
“Are you ready to go?”  
He asked as he looked down and pulled his wallet out of his pocket. Counting out the amount owed for both of their lunches.   
“You don’t have to pay for mine.”  
Hermione said reaching her hand out to stop his without thinking about it. He looked up at her sharply and held her gaze for what felt like hours even though it was for a second or two.  
He smiled a small smile and shrugged her hand off of his continuing to put the money in the small folder.   
“What type of man do you take me for Granger?”  
He said standing up with the black folder in hand. Hermione shook her head and stood up still confused from his prior behavior. Draco reached an arm out and grabbed her purse off the back of her chair and slung it over his shoulder like a coat.   
“After you Watson.”  
He said referring to their previous joke. Hermione walked around the table eyeing him oddly before heading to the front desk as Draco trailed behind her. They stopped briefly at the counter to drop off their payment and headed to the car.  
“So, do you want me to take you home now…”  
Draco asked trailing off has he turned to face her his arm resting on the glove compartment. She didn’t necessarily want to go home, but realistically she no longer had a reason to be out with him.   
“It doesn’t matter.”  
She said no longer able to make eye contact with him as she spoke. Draco shrugged and turned to start up the car.   
“Well, I don’t wanna go home yet; neither of my parents will be there.”  
He said pulling out of the tiny parking space he had skillfully parked in earlier.   
“So, I guess I’ll have to hold you captive for a few more hours.”  
He finished; quickly glancing over at her and winking, and although Hermione had never been that type of girl, she bit her tongue just in case a squeal slipped out.


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I <3 Guys! Thank you so much for reading!

“So, if my mother asks, you’re favorite thing about me aside from chronic attractiveness is my charismatic personality.”  
Draco said looking over at Hermione who had her eyebrow raised in amusement.  
“For sure.”  
She said laughing cynically.  
“and don’t let me forget to mention that you’re humble to a fault.”   
She finished laughing at her own joke. Draco found himself smiling as he glared at her playfully. He had taken her to a secluded area in the park and they were now planning out the story of how they fell in love. Along with other details.  
“ok, so back to the love story. You were being bullied at school and I stood up for you.”  
Draco said looking at Hermione who was sitting facing him on a bench. She looked unimpressed with his story and waved her hands in the air in protest.   
“No bloody way!”  
She exclaimed swatting at him. He moved out the way causing only the tips of her fingers to lightly brush his chest.   
“Well what do you propose?”  
He asked trying to distract her from the shudder than ran through his body. She looked out at the lake in front of them and thought for a second. Draco openly stared at her now. Her features were fairly like, but not cartoonishly so. Her nose was small with freckles dashed across it. She had long eyelashes full pink lips that he assumed to be soft with the amount of Chapstick he had seen her apply that day. Her hair was brown with natural highlights and it stopped just below the waist. It was curly and just as unruly as it had been in grade school, but now instead of seeing it as bushy and unattractive he thought it to be rather beautiful.   
“How about we got paired for a project and then the rest was history?”  
She shrugged looking back at him. He blinked and looked past her not wanting her to catch him staring.  
“That could work, but my mother likes details. We’ll need to fill in the gaps at dinner. What do you think?”  
He asked looking Hermione. Who was staring at the other side of the lake.  
“Earth to Granger.”  
He said waiving a hand in front of her face after she still hadn’t answered or moved.   
“Sorry… but is that Ron and Lavender over there, or am I just going crazy.”  
She asked. Draco looked over to where she was staring and within seconds he had spotted the horrid mop of blonde waves.   
“That’s definitely them.”  
He replied frowning looking over to see if she was okay. Hermione finally looked away from the couple and faced him.  
“Should we leave?”  
She asked him looking panicked. Draco tried not to jump as she reached out and gripped his hand without thinking as she looked over her shoulder again.  
“We can if you want...”  
He said trailing off fighting the urge to close his hand around hers fully.   
“What?”  
She said looking back at him not liking the way he hadn’t finished his sentence.   
“It’s just that. I’ve been coming to this part of the park for years when I need to think, and I’ve only ever seen one other person.”  
He said trying to make her understand what he was implying. When she still looked confused, He began to speak again.   
“You don’t think it’s odd that he’s coming to the very spot you’re at with the girl he cheated on you with?”  
Hermione’s eyes widened as she finally understood.  
“He’s doing it on purpose!”  
She gasped releasing his hand as she slapped hers over her mouth.   
“Oh my god, I didn’t even think about it, but he tracks my location all the time when I don’t answer the phone.”  
Draco winced at the shrill edge crawling into her voice.   
“He could’ve been tracking us all day.”  
She cried as she looked over her shoulder now looking more scared than upset.   
“Granger just relax.”  
He said grabbing her shoulders so that she’d look at him.  
“We can leave, or we can stay, either way they’re going to have to pass us.”  
She nodded slowly biting her bottom lip.   
“He’s obviously doing this to try and get under your skin, so you just need to show him that you don’t care about him anymore.”  
He continued dropping his arms into his lap. Hermione looked over her shoulder at the couple who was going to be where they were in a few minutes. Turning back to face Draco with a determined look on her face she nodded.   
“How?”  
She asked looking at Draco. He smirked held his arms out to the side.  
“Elementary Dear Watson.”  
He said grabbing her hand and standing up pulling her along with him.  
“He brought someone you hate, so let him see you with someone he hates.”  
He said smiling mischievously. The corners of Hermione’s mouth turned up as her own devious smile etched itself onto her face.   
“You’re a genius!”  
She said pulling his hand which she was still holding over her shoulder.   
“So now what?”  
She asked sounding giddy and excited.  
“Do we just walk by them?”  
Draco couldn’t help but to smile at her as he shook his head.   
“We can’t just walk by them Granger. We have to walk by them.”  
He said stressing the word walk. Without waiting for her response, he pulled her close to him and grabbed her other hand and placed it on his arm of the hand she was holding. He took note of the blush that settled onto her cheeks and smirked down at her grabbing her face by the chin.   
“This is how we walk by.”  
He said staring at her for a moment before releasing her face and rolling his shoulders back. Hermione cleared her throat and tightened her hold on his arm. He didn’t mind though; he liked the feeling. It assured him that she was really there.   
“Ready?”  
He asked looking down at her. She looked straight forward and nodded.   
“Ready.”  
She repeated as they began to walk toward the pair. What probably was a one-minute walk felt like it took ten. When they finally were almost face to face with the other couple, he heard Hermione’s breathing deepen.   
“Don’t look at them, just look at me.”  
He whispered into her ear as he leant down to reach it. She looked up at him and nodded. Their faces were only a few inches apart and Hermione suddenly laughed. Draco looked at her confused.   
“What’s so funny?”  
He asked her infectious laughter already spreading to him.   
“It’s weird isn’t it, I’ve only ever seen this in books and movies.”  
She whispered as they continued walking. Draco chuckled and shook his head.   
“Mione!”  
A voice cried from beside him. Draco wanted to keep walking, but she stopped and looked confused. Almost as if she had forgotten what they were doing in the first place.   
“Ron! Why are we stopping!?”  
Lavender whined trying to pull him forward like a disobedient dog on a leash. Draco winced at her high pitch voice and he look down and widened his eyes at Hermione who was trying to bite back a laugh at the poor girls desperate mannerism. Hermione snorted and buried her face in his arms shoulders shaking for a moment before finally pulling herself together and peaking around him to look at Ron.  
“Ron?!”  
She said astonished, as if she was greeting an old friend. His face went from the usual pale color to a deep red in a matter of seconds.   
“I called you.”  
He said looking up at Draco who was a good bit taller than him. Draco sneered down at the ginger before responding to the statement that was not meant for him.  
“Well she was obviously busy.”  
He said scoffing and looking down at her.   
“You clearly have your hands full as well.”  
Hermione chimed in smiling rudely at Lavender. Ron stood red faced opening and closing his mouth like a fish out of water.   
“If you’re going to say something then just say it. It’s quite hot and we have dinner reservations to make.”  
Draco said examining his shirt sounding bored.   
“Mione what are you doing?”  
Ron asked sounding like a disappointed father.   
“Just come back with me now and I won’t, even be mad about… this”  
He said motioning to them. Lavender stomped her foot like an insolent child and spun to face Ron.  
“This is what you dragged me out here for?”  
She asked sounding like she was about to cry. She turned on her heel her thin blonde hair bouncing in her wake as she scuttled away. Draco again looked down at Hermione who was also trying to stifle a laugh.   
“Like I said before, you clearly have your hand full.”  
Hermione said to Ron before tugging on Draco’s arm signaling that she was ready to leave. They began walking not saying anything when they heard Ron calling after Lavender. The two lost it falling apart and clutching their stomachs.   
“Granger, you deserve an academy award! That was Brilliant, Brilliant!”   
He exclaimed between burst of laughter as they staggered towards his car.   
“Me! What about you?! Did you see his face when you mentioned dinner reservations?!”  
Hermione cried grabbing her side as a fresh wave of laughter began. They reached the car both gasping for air.   
“I would pay money to see that on film.”  
Draco said as he climbed into the car. Hermione swiped under her eyes from where she had cried from laughter as she put on her seat belt.   
“I know! I wonder what face he made when he heard us laughing at him.”  
She said giggling. Draco ran a hand through his hair. As a happy quietness settled around him.  
“Are your parents’ home?”  
He asked looking at her. She shook her head.   
“No, they’re out at a dinner theater they won’t be back until later I think.”  
She said a small smile still resting on her lips. Draco ignored the excitement that rushed through him as he spoke.   
“I can’t very well leave you home alone with that crazy bloke tracking your location.”  
He said motioning in the direction that Ron had run in.   
She frowned a little as she realized that he was right.  
“Okay. So, what now?”  
She asked looking at him wide eyed.   
“What do you usually do?”  
He asked tilting his head to the side.  
“Well…usually I would go to the library to study- when I don’t have work of course.’  
Draco scrunched his nose at the mention of schoolwork.  
“I completely forgot about that physics assignment for Snapes class, when is that due anyway.”  
Hermione’s eyes widened as she stifled a gasp.   
“I was supposed to do that today. We have to present in class Monday…”  
She said staring out the window in disbelief. Suddenly shifting to face him she began speaking   
“Okay, here’s the game plan, we can swing by my house get supplies go to the library and do the project together. My parents will definitely be home by the time we finish.”  
She said anxiously twisting a curl around her finger nodding her head as if she were trying to convince herself that she could pull it off.   
“Yes ma’am”  
He said throwing his car into drive and peeling out of the parking lot.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I also have a x-mas Dramione fanfiction in the works so get ready for that one in a couple of months. That one will take place in the HPU


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry I was gone for so long, I had a huge research paper due for my final grade, and I had a 90 so it needed to be *flawless.* Lol but now I'm on winter break so I'm gonna write a bunch.

“Okay, once I finish gluing these magnets to the board, we’ll be done with the building part.”  
Draco said glancing up Hermione from his workspace across from her. She nodded at him without looking up as she continued to put the finishing touches on their paper.   
“How does this sound?”  
She said pausing before continuing.  
“Thus, the pencil is not really floating. As previously stated, it only appears that way because the magnets repel each other but are on the same plane.”  
Draco stared thoughtfully at the magnet he was holding in place while the glue dried.  
“It sounds good to me, but as of right now you could tell me it was floating because of fairy dust and I’d agree.”  
He said yawing quietly. Hermione nodded in agreement and leaned back in her chair shoving her hands into the pocket of the sweatshirt she had changed into when they had stopped by her house. She couldn’t help but smile a bit as she remembered how she had made a remark about how she looked homeless in her leggings and faded hoodie, and Draco had told her that “He quite liked them.”  
“What are you cheesing about?”  
Draco asked nudging her foot with his own.   
“Nothing.”  
Hermione said cheekily tapping her foot against his. He looked up at the large clock on the wall and sighed.   
“I can’t believe we spent the entire evening holed up in here doing schoolwork.”  
He whined as he rested his chin on his free hand. Hermione shrugged as she shoved her textbook back into her backpack. After stopping for supplies they had begun working around five, now it was an hour to closing.  
“Better than doing it alone thirty minutes before its due.”  
Hermione said shifting in her seat. Draco frowned a little as he stared at her.  
“I guess you weren’t too horrible to work with.”   
He said jokingly. Hermione feigned a hurt look and threw a hand over her heart.   
“Not too bad!? You’re supposed to be madly in love with me.”  
Draco released the magnet he was holding and crossed his arms over his chest.   
“Yes, I suppose I had forgotten about that.”  
He said thoughtfully standing up and pushing in his chair.   
“Come along then love, it’s almost eleven, and I don’t want your parents thinking I kidnapped you.”  
He said winking at her as he grinned smugly. Hermione allowed her mouth to fall open as she blushed and looked around the empty library trying to see if anyone had heard what he had said.  
“Stop that!”  
She cried playfully leaning over the circular plastic table to shove his shoulder.   
“What?”  
He asked innocently smiling at her.  
“You don’t like it when I call you love, love?”  
He asked impishly still smiling at her. Hermione only stood up and began wrapping the chord around on her hot glue gun.  
“You’re not saying no.”  
He said wiggling his eyebrows at her. She looked up from her bag and regarded him closely before speaking.   
“Are you always like this.”  
She asked staring him the eyes pausing her hand and leaning them on the back of a chair.  
“Like what… handsome, funny, or compassionate?”  
He asked quirking an eyebrow at her. She rolled her eyes before responding.   
“No, I was thinking more along the lines of happy.”  
She said looking at him carefully.  
“You never act like this at school, so I was just wondering…”  
She trailed off now, feeling as if her question was too personal. Draco only scrunched his nose and shrugged.   
“No, not really. I’m not usually around people who would appreciate me having fun.”  
He said sighing loudly trying to keep his tone light.   
“What about Blaise and the others.”  
Hermione asked her brow furrowing.   
“Well, yeah. Theo and Blaise are cool, but I’m only friends with everyone else because I have to be.”  
Hermione’s frown deepened as she pictured how miserable she would be if she secretly hated her friends.   
“Why?”  
She asked curiously as she began packing her stuff up again.   
“Do you always ask so many questions.”  
He asked trying to change the subject as he laughed awkwardly.   
“Do you always avoid answering them?”  
She replied evenly. As she gave him a quick glance. He chuckled and shook his head slightly before throwing his hands up in mock surrender.   
“Alright, you caught me.”  
He said putting their spare magnets in a Ziplock bag.   
“I hang out with them for connections. Being friends with people in high places is how you’re successful in life- that’s what my parents keep telling me anyway.”  
“Do you think that’s true?”  
Hermione asked him as she closed her bag. He shrugged before responding   
“Maybe- I mean I guess knowing people can’t hurt, but it’s not everything.”  
He said frowning lightly.  
“That’s why I don’t want to marry Astoria, I barley know her. Hell, the last time I saw her we had just started grade school.”  
Hermione made a disgusted face at the thought of marrying someone she barely knew.   
“Well…why don’t you just tell your parents that.”  
Draco snickered at this.   
“Trust me Granger I tried. But they believe your social standing reflects your level of success.”  
Hermione nodded slowly.  
“And your success is based off how much you’ve accomplished. How much money you have, who you know, Where and who you married, and my personal favorite who got married the fastest. That’s why my parents are withholding the rights to the company until I’m married.”  
He said laughing bitterly.   
“To inspire me to find the one faster.”  
“That sounds awful.”  
Hermione said as she tried to put herself in his shoes. Draco shrugged as he began to speak again.   
“Sometimes it’s a lot, but what do I look like complaining about it.”  
He said pausing.   
“Oh, poor Malfoy doesn’t like his friends. Life must be so miserable for him in his mansion.”  
He said making his voice high and squeaky. Hermione looked at him intently before speaking again.   
“Having money doesn’t mean life can’t treat you unfairly.”  
She said sternly, upset that he felt as if he had to bottle up his feelings because his family had money. He gave her a small smile as he picked up a discarded color pencil.  
“Yeah, well everyone isn’t as understanding as you are.”  
He said forcing a large grin on his face as he placed the colored pencils he had been collecting back in the cup in the middle of the table.   
“Now, let’s leave. If I spend another moment in here, I think I might start growing wrinkles and a beard.”  
He said stroking his chin as if he were making sure no hair had grown in the last couple of hours. Hermione found herself giggling at his expression and grabbed the board that held their project on it. Draco grabbed her bag and slung it over his shoulder and Hermione suppressed a smile as she imagined walking down the school halls hand in hand with him as he carried her bag on one shoulder.   
“Goodnight!”  
Draco called to the older woman at the front desk as he threw his hand up to wave. She gave him a sweet smile in return and Hermione widened her eyes as she realized what she had been thinking about moments ago. Mortified she ducked her head down and forced herself to repeat her physics presentation to herself all the way to Draco’s car.  
***  
“Do you want me to walk you up?”  
Draco asked as he parked along the curb outside Hermione’s house.  
“I’m truly flattered, but unless you want to play twenty questions with my parents, we better take a raincheck.”  
She said shaking her head as she unbuckled.  
“hmmm. While that does sound like loads of fun, I’m afraid you’re right.”  
He said reaching his arm back to grab her book bag off the floor of the back seat. He held the bag out to Hermione, and she placed it on her lap as she looked at him.   
“I really did have a good time today.”  
She said blushing; praising the powers that be that it was dark and that the streetlight didn’t provide good light.   
“Really?”  
He said coyly as he leaned forward resting his arm on the center console closing the gap between their two faces leaving only a few inches of space. Hermione felt her stomach flip. She found herself unable to speak momentarily so she only nodded.   
“Well, like I said before, we’ll have to do it again some time. Who knows I might swing by and decide to kidnap you after school sometime next week.”  
Hermione shuddered as again the smell of spearmint wafted towards her from his mouth.  
“Is it kidnapping if I go willingly?”  
She said boldly raising an eyebrow at him. He opened his mouth to respond when her front door opened, and her father’s large silhouette filled the doorway.   
“Guess that’s your que.”  
He said leaning away from her. Not bothering to masque his disappointment.   
“You can leave the project in my car; I swear I’ll bring it to class Monday.”  
Draco said holding up his right hand. Hermione nodded at him and looked back once as she opened the door.  
“Goodnight Draco.”  
She said as she stood up.   
“Goodnight.”  
He said smiling up at her. She began closing the door before she stopped suddenly and opened it a bit.  
“Text me when you get home, so I know you made it safe. Alright?”  
She said looking down at him. An unfamiliar expression passed his face before he grinned hugely at her and nodded.   
“Yes Ma’am”  
He said winking at her. She nodded and bit her lip trying to withhold a smile for what felt like the thousandth time that day. She closed the door softly and pivoted beginning to make her way up the driveway. She reached the front door, and her father raised a hand in the direction of Draco’s car, which only pulled away when she had fully stepped inside.   
“Well aren’t you rosy cheeked!”  
Her mother exclaimed from her seat at the island. Hermione rolled her eyes and walked over to where she was sitting.   
“I am not rosy checked.”  
She exclaimed widening her eyes at her mother looking back at her father who was frowning by the front door.   
“He didn’t walk you up.”  
He said gruffly walking into the kitchen where they were.   
“Because I told him not to, begged is actually more accurate.”  
She said laughing as she walked towards the stairs.   
“Well why not?”  
Her mother asked indignantly.   
“You know why.”  
She said giving her mother a knowing look before making her way to her room.  
“Goodnight!”  
She called before she shut her room door. She heard a muffled chorus from her parents before she turned and fell onto her bed. She sat up as she remembered how Draco had flopped back onto her pillow while he was waiting for her to come out the bathroom. It was weird. Ron had napped in her bed before and she had never given it a second thought, but with Draco everything he did or said was permanently imprinted in her mind.   
“I am so hopeless.”  
She sighed aloud as she stood up and paced around her room. The small smile that graced her lips faltered when she heard her phone ringing in her pocket. She furrowed her eyebrows knowing that Draco couldn’t possibly be home yet.   
“Hello?”  
She said answering the call that popped up with no caller ID.   
“You have a lot of nerve ya know?”  
A seething voice cried from the other end.   
“He’s using you, and you’ll come crawling back to me when you realize. Everyone knows it. Everyone knows that you’re mine.”  
Hermione stood in shock anger welling inside her. Without responding she hung up her phone and blocked the number along with Ron’s contact without hesitation. She expected to cry, but she was surprised when the only emotion she could detect was relief. She was done with Ron, really and truly done. She wanted nothing more to do with him and this was the first time that she knew that she meant it. Hermione walked over to her closet and snatched down all the clothes that came from Ron. Every jacket, hoodie, and t-shirt. Along with other Knick knacks he had left. She shoved everything into a large trash bag and shoved it under her bed deciding she would drop it off at his place on Monday while he was at spring football practice. She stood with her hands on her hips and chest heaving in the middle of her room admiring how much neater it was now that all the stuff he’d left over was gone. Her phone rang again this time from her desk. She rolled her eyes and made a low sound in the back of her throat fully ready to give Ron a piece of her mind. The anger rising in her chest dissipated when she saw that the call was from Harry. She almost dropped her phone trying to answer the call. She hadn’t spoken to Harry in months and she felt horrible about shoving him aside for Ron.  
Harry?!”   
She exclaimed joy present in her voce.  
“So, it’s true then? You finally rid yourself of that bloke?”  
He asked amusement hanging on every word.   
“How’d you know”  
She asked sitting down in her desk chair a large smile etched on her face.   
“Ginny told me that Ron came home fuming a few hours ago yelling about you and some guy in the park.”

He said a bubble of laughter following his words.   
“Oh, good riddance! I’m sorry Harry I know he’s your girlfriends’ brother, but he truly is senile. I don’t know why I’m only just seeing it.”  
She could practically hear Harry shrug as he began speaking again.  
“Nah, Ginny knows. She loves him because they’re family, but she’s aware of his troubling antics.”  
Hermione smiled a small smile. She liked Ginny and she was glad Ron hadn’t ruined their friendship.   
“Enough about Ron though”  
Harry said suddenly.  
“I have Ginny waiting in the other room, and we want to hear all about your outing with Malfoy.”


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to edit this in the notes app in the car so please be nice lol :)

Draco tried to ignore the feeling in the pit of his stomach as he approached room 702. He knew that Hermione would already be in there, and he tried to convince himself that he wasn’t excited to see her as forced the small grin that had formed on his lips away.   
Draco Malfoy does not get excited to see girls.   
He scoffed to himself as he threw his shoulders back and sauntered into the classroom with the project he and Hermione had worked on that weekend.   
“At least one of my students bothered to do their work this weekend.”  
Draco’s teacher who wore a sweater vest with a white polo underneath called from behind his large desk. The low chorus of chatter ceased as students turned to look at the project in his hands before turning away to make panicked faces at their partners. Draco took the opportunity to scan the classroom searching for the long honey curls that belonged to Hermione, and He found himself frowning slightly when he didn’t see her.  
Where is she? Draco thought to himself as he walked to the long wooden table and set the project down.   
“A word Mr. Malfoy”  
Snape called motioning with his head for Draco to come over his black greasy hair hanging stiff beside his ears. Draco walked over and planted himself in front of the desk just as the bell rang. Turning to address the rest of the class Snape motioned towards him.   
“Today you will be working on your projects-which were due today. They must be turned I before end of class if you still wish to receive full credit, if you fail to manage your time you may turn it in tomorrow for a third of the points.”  
He finished sharply regarding the glass over his angular nose daring them with his dark eyes to complain. The class sat silently not sure if they were dismissed to work yet, when two wide eyed students burst through the door noisily.   
“Ms. Granger, Mr. Potter! How kind of you to join us”  
The older gentleman barked at the students. Hermione flushed instantly and looked at the floor.  
“Sorry sir.”  
She mumbled. Harry nodded his head stupidly and shuffle his feet.   
“It’s no surprise that neither of you have a project.”  
He said the verbal attack continuing.   
“Both of you sit down at once and get the instructions from one of your classmates who managed to make it to class on time.”  
Harry hung his head and instantly began walking to his seat, but Hermione faltered. 

“I do have my project sir.”  
She said lifting her head to meet his cold glare.   
“oh-”  
He said in mock surprise.   
“So, it’s in your pocket then?”  
He continued widening his eyes in false amusement.   
“My partner-”   
“Granger and I worked together.”  
Draco said cutting her off staring straight ahead giving his teacher a leveled stare ignoring the muffled gasp coming from his peers.  
“Is that so”  
He said making it sound like statement raising an eyebrow as he tried to keep an unreadable expression. Draco nodded and slightly turned to face Hermione.   
“She has the report.”  
He said without looking at his teacher.   
Hermione nodded and quickly slipped one strap of her backpack off her shoulder so she could pull out the clear folder that held their report.   
She handed it to Draco who placed it on the desk and they both watched as their professor examined the title page that held both of their names on it.   
“Very well then”  
He said without looking up from the report.   
“You may both go to the library for the remainder of the period”  
He said turning to write them a pass. Draco bit back a grin as he saw his classmates gaping expressions along with Hermione’s rosy cheeks from the corner of his eyes.   
“There.”  
Snape said handing Draco a pass for both he and Hermione to share.   
“Check in with the librarians when you get there.”  
He said stiffly sniffing and turning to lecture the rest of the class.   
He looked at Hermione and nodded towards the door before turning on his heel and walking out the classroom.   
He and Hermione walked in silence until they heard the heavy wooden door of the classroom swing shut.   
“So…”  
He said trailing off looking down at her.   
“So.”  
She replied smiling lightly at the ground.   
“That was a complete shit show wasn’t it!”  
He said laughing.   
At this Hermione visibly relaxed and laughed along with him.   
“He always gets so angry.”  
She said waving her hands around as she spoke. A lopsided grin appeared on Draco’s face as he watched her animated expressions.”  
“Honestly, I never thought I’d live to see the day when you came to class late.”  
Draco laughed as she launched into a rant about how it was all Harry’s fault for wanting to get burgers from downtown with only forty minutes in the lunch period.   
“Drake!”  
A voice called from behind the pair. He grimaced as recognition dawned upon him. Rolling his eyes up to the outdoor overhang he turned around masking his face into a forced smile.   
“pansy.”  
He said trying and failing to seem excited to see her. The girl didn’t seem to notice as her eyes were trained on Hermione who had stopped a few paces ahead to give them some space.   
“What are you doing with her?”  
She said not bothering to lower her voice as she looked past Draco.   
“What do you mean?”  
Draco asked furrowing his brow feigning ignorance.  
“I mean that Lavender brown saw you two all up close and personal in the park Saturday.  
She said tearing her eyes away from Hermione looking at Draco squarely.   
“So?”  
He said sneering at her not liking where this conversation was headed.   
“So, I feel like one second you care about me and then the next you don’t”  
Draco pinched the bridge of his nose praying that Hermione knew this was all a load of crap- not that it was any of her business.   
“Parkinson. I’ve made it abundantly clear that I only care about you as a friend.”  
He knew it was probably sadistic, but he took pleasure in the hurt expression that crossed her face. He hated Pansy, of course he couldn’t say it but every quality he hated about people she possessed. He found her annoying, daft, and pretentious. Which says a lot coming from a Malfoy.   
“Drake you don’t mean that.”  
She said reaching an arm out to touch him or grab his arm or something. He never got the chance to find out though because he side stepped her hand and rolled his eyes at her.  
“How many times do I have to tell you not to call me Drake”  
He asked shuddering as the name tumbled past his lips.   
“I have a girlfriend Parkinson…and you have class.”  
He lied pointing to the intern that was walking towards them. Hermione who had pretending to be disinterested snapped her head up.  
“Who-her!”  
she snickered.   
“Even if you were telling the truth- which you’re not!”  
She cried taking a step towards him.  
“Your parents would never accept her, and It’ll be me. Because it has always been me.”  
She said glaring at him her voice low and menacing. The intern who was approaching the two slowly as if they were two feral animals cleared her throat to speak.   
“You don’t know anything about my family”  
Draco said cutting off the poor girl who eyes continuously widened behind her large glasses his voice soft but anger evident.   
“No, but I know you.”  
Pansy said flicking her long inky colored hair over her shoulder.  
“You want that company more than life itself, and you’ll do whatever it takes to get it.”  
She finished smiling a sickening triumphant smile.   
“I already am.”  
Draco said turning on his heel not bothering to explain his words. He began stalking away but paused momentarily to grab Hermione’s hand before continuing on.   
“What are you doing?!”  
she hissed looking up at him. He noted that although she sounded annoyed, she had laced her fingers with his without hesitation.   
“Hold on, I’m thinking”   
He replied as he continued taking long strides towards the library not relinquishing the grasp on her tiny hand. They walked in silence and Draco only slowed when they were approaching the doors of the library because Hermione had slowed her pace. Their hands were still connected but now they were an arm’s length apart.   
“What’s the matter?”  
Draco asked looking back genuinely confused. She said nothing but looked down at there hands and then back up at him.  
“What, are you embarrassed to be seen holding hands with me?”  
He joked raising an eyebrow at her.   
“I was thinking the exact opposite actually”  
She said matter of factly staring up at him. He paused not sure what to say.  
“You think I’m embarrassed to be seen with you”  
He said making sound more like an explanation than a statement. Hermione shrugged and looked away but still made no move to go inside.  
“You’re impossible”  
Draco chuckled as he tugged her forward and through the front doors of the building.   
“We’re here from Professor Snapes class.”  
Draco said handing the pass to the older women behind the desk who had her graying hair in a loose bun. She raised her eyebrow curiously at the pair but made no mention of the fact that their hands were interlocked.   
“How have you been Ms. Granger, a lot has happened I presumed?”  
She asked a mischievous glint appearing in her eye as she glanced at Draco momentarily.  
“I’m just fine professor McGonagall, how are you?”  
Hermione asked her cheeks a brilliant shade of red.  
“Quite horrible actually, I’m afraid Lee Jordan isn’t nearly as dedicated to organizing books as you were.”  
She said winking. Hermione laughed quietly as she and Draco both observed the new TA asleep in a weathered armchair.  
“I’ve got you to marked down, now if you’ll excuse me, I have to go wake him.”  
She said walking around the counter heading towards the sleeping boy.  
“C’mon”  
Draco said pulling on Hermione’s arm.  
“What are-”   
“Quick, while she’s distracted”  
Draco whisper yelled as they briskly made their way to the back door of the library.   
“Draco I am not going out there.”  
Hermione said whispering, but still not slowing down.   
The two barreled through the door and Draco broke into a sprint still holding onto Hermione’s hand. She began running as well and Draco felt a gerbil of laughter in his throat.   
“Where are we going!”  
Hermione asked looking over shoulder making sure no teacher was running after them.   
“We’re almost there.”  
Draco said out of breath as he slowed to a light jog. They came to a complete stop by the empty faculty parking lot that nobody used.  
“We ran all this way…just to look at your car.”  
Hermione asked pursing her lips and crossing her arms breathing heavily. He shook his head and ran a hand through his disheveled hair.  
“No, we ran all this way because we’re going on an adventure.”


	12. Chapter 12

“An adventure? We still have two lessons to attend.” She whispered even though they were in an empty parking lot.  
At this Draco rolled his eyes. “We just got excused from one lesson, and I know for a fact that your last class is study hall.” He said giving her a knowing look.  
Hermione felt a tinge of pride at the fact that he knew her schedule, and reluctantly she sighed and shrugged her shoulders.  
“Fine.” She relented playfully rolling her eyes.  
“I’ll just have to tell Harry not to worry about driving me home after school.” Draco who barely allowed her to finish her sentence threw an arm around her shoulder and jostled her around.  
“Finally! Goody too shoes Granger skipping class.” Hermione lightly shoved him off of her laughing  
“Okay, okay. Let’s go before I change my mind.” She said as Draco opened the door for her to get in the car.  
***  
“You’ve actually never been up to graffiti bridge before?” Draco asked as he glanced at Hermione quickly as he drove with one hand on the steering wheel. Hermione shook her head and frowned a little.  
“No, I had no reason to- I mean don’t people just go up there to get high?” She said disdain mixed in with her words. He shrugged unconcerned.  
“Some people, but I go for the view.” He said pausing briefly.  
“Plus, there’s rarely anyone up there this time of day.” He finished giving her a quick look.  
Hermione nodded eyebrows bunched as she replayed the scene that had taken place a mere fifteen minutes ago in her head.  
“Well now that we’re alone-”  
“what? We should snog?” Draco asked wiggling his eyebrows at her. Hermione scoffed making a disgusted face before replying.  
“No, I was going to ask you clue me in on what happened back there with Pansy”  
“Oh, that?” he replied shrugging his shoulder. “I mean you heard what she said. Lavender went and told a few people what she saw at the park.”  
“And this means what exactly? Her and her friends are idiots so, no one would believe them.” Draco shook his head slowly.  
“That would be the case but, somehow the news reached pansy… which means the whole school will know in a few hours, and they will believe her”  
“So, what do we do?” She asked panicked her eyes widening.  
“Relax, I’ve already got everything figured out.” Hermione sat staring at him as he smiled to himself and tapped his fingers on his steering wheel.  
“Well… Are you going to tell me your plan or what?”  
“Impatient, aren’t we?” he asked cocking an eyebrow at her while smirking.  
“Good lord women you’ve got to lighten up.” He said after receiving no reply from her. When she still did not laugh or smile, he cleared his throat.  
“Fine. If you must know I think we need to continue the fake dating thing at school.”  
“What?!”  
“Listen I know it’s crazy but-”  
“No, I don’t think you do know.” She said crossing over him.  
“Draco we cannot and will not allow the whole student body to think that we’re dating.”  
“I don’t understand what the big deal is.” He said allowing glances over at Hermione while he was driving.  
“What would people say, or better yet what will they do?” She said shutting her eyes to ward off whatever she was imagining.  
“I’m still not seeing the problem here.” At this Hermione looked over at him mouth gaping.  
“I’m sorry let me rephrase his for you.” Draco observed that her voice sounded strained and he suddenly sobered realizing that this was not a joke to her.  
“Pansy will freak. Ron will freak, and I don’t want to have either one of their beady eyes on me.” She finished saying each word slowly. He was taken aback by the flash emotion that settled over him his face darkening and his grip on his steering wheel become tighter causing his knuckles to go white.  
“So that’s what this is really about then.” He bit out surprised by how calm his voice sounded compared to the way he was feeling.  
“Still hoping to run back to him when this is all said and done.” Hermione looked at him eyes blazing as her face arranged into the furious expression that he had become acquainted with over the years.  
“What does that even have to do with anything!” She cried her voice ringing throughout the car.  
He knew that he was crossing a line and that once crossed it would be very hard for him to return to where he was now, but what he also knew was that he was Draco Malfoy. And when he became uncomfortable he sought familiarity in whatever form it may come in, and truthfully the hot pang of jealousy that he felt encompass his body and burn his pale skin when he imagined Hermione getting back with Ron was uncharted territory for him and it made him uneasy. However, fighting with her did not, it was familiar, it was routine, and most importantly it was safe.  
“Don’t play dumb with me; you’re just trying to keep your options open.” The words possessed a venom that he hadn’t used towards her since grade school, and as best as she tried to hide it, he saw the flash of shock that crossed her features.  
“You and I both know I’m not like that.”  
He was expecting for her to match his energy and the guilt that was slowly overtaking the anger doubled when her voice was soft and lacked the malice that it usually had when they had argued like this in the past.  
“so, what is it then?” He asked trying to silence the guilt by convincing himself he had a valid reason to angry with her.  
“Are you afraid that everyone’s going to think you’re easy? Cause then what? You’re worried that no one guy will want to date you after that? Well news flash that’s already the case, and we both know that’s the real reason you put up with Ron’s crap.” The words barreled past his lips before he had time to process what he was saying. Not used to thinking twice or even considering if his words hurt her. He forced himself to stare straight ahead at the road not wanting to see the hurt expression that was no doubt present on her face. He was screaming apologies in his mind, but he couldn’t seem to force his lips apart to speak them aloud.  
They sat in silence for the rest of the ride until he pulled the car into the grassy patch off the road that had been the designated parking spot for the bridge.  
***  
Hermione was stunned honest to God stunned. She wanted to scream and yell at him, but she wasn’t stupid. She knew for whatever the reason may be, that was what he wanted. So, she sat quietly. The silence becoming suffocating as the hum of the engine switched off. Neither of the two showed any sign of relenting and Hermione felt her throat getting thick making it difficult for her to swallow. She looked over at Draco observing his death grip on the steering wheel and the flexed muscles in his jaw trying to piece together what could have happened. Searching for the culprit of his random foul mood.  
What did you expect?  
She thought to herself almost scoffing aloud.  
You let your guard down because he was civil for one day? You were asking for it.  
But they had been more than civil. She thought back to their outing together. How he would flash her a small smile when he thought no one was looking. The way that he had called her love and told her she was pretty. She still felt her stomach flip as she recounted how he had wrapped his arm around her while gently cupping her face, but that had all been pretend. All of it; every last second. None of that was real. It was all an act to impress his parents, but this loud seething Malfoy who sat next her and said words to intentionally cause her pain was more real than ever, and she would never forget that again. Deciding that she’d had quite enough of people mistreating her and thinking they could get away with it she left. She didn’t spare him a single glance; juts grabbed her bag slammed the door shut behind her and left. She didn’t expect for him to come apologize to her, and she tried to convince herself she wasn’t upset about it even when she stopped walking a few feet away from the car and still saw no movement inside. The tears that had threatened to spill over while she sat in the car now seeped slowly from the corners of her eyes. They were hot and salty, and she imagined the ocean boiling over behind her eyelids. She threw her bag on the ground and took a seat beside it knowing she couldn’t walk all the way to her house. She took out her phone not really thinking twice about what she was doing. It rang once before it was picked up, and she shuddered at the familiar voice on the other line.  
“Hermione, you missed your last lesson, and then I see this bizarre text saying not to worry about driving you home.” Harry’s rushed words and panicked voice brought a wave of guilt over here as she realized she had carelessly left her friend to worry about her whereabouts.  
“I know I’m sorry, I just made a super stupid decision and-”  
“What are you doing at graffiti bridge Mione?” He asked not allowing her to finish sounding tired. Caught off guard by his question her eyes widened, and she sputtered while trying to form a coherent sentence which sounded more like chocking because she was crying.  
“How’d you know?” She finally said sniffing and grossly rubbing her nose on her arm.  
“I checked your location. I knew something was wrong when you left with Malfoy and then didn’t show up for study group.” He said a bitter edge creeping into his voice when he said Draco’s name.  
“You’re with him right now, aren’t you?” The question had no anger or judgment to it, and he sounded genuinely curious, and that’s when Hermione realized how crazy this whole ordeal was. No wonder Ron had been so furious.  
“I was- I mean he’s still here, but I got out the car I’m only actually a few feet away sitting on the ground.” She said rambling in an attempt to stop crying.  
“I’ll be there in ten minutes just hang tight okay?” Harry said mumbling softly to himself. Hermione pulled the phone away from her face and looked at the time which she had neglected checking when she had first called him.  
“But there’s still forty minutes of class, and it’s a half hour drive.”  
“Yeah? I left as soon as I realized you weren’t there. I wasn’t gonna leave you alone with that git at the bridge. People don’t just go there for the view.” He scoffed. She thought back to Draco’s words and tried to imagine what they would’ve done had they not gotten into a fight.  
“Listen Mione I’m almost there but I gotta go, stay away from Malfoy until I get there okay?”  
“No problems there.” She assured picking gravel out of the soles of her shoes.  
“Alright, see you in a second.”  
The line went dead, and Hermione was left to sit and think about her actions like a child in time out. Sure, she knew Draco, but she didn’t know him. She mentally kicked herself for cutting class and coming to some bridge in the middle of nowhere with a guy who apparently thought she was as desirable as snow on summer holiday. She also thought about how stupid she had been to cut Harry off at Ron’s request. She didn’t know anyone who would leave class and drive all this way because they were worried about her. This thought brought new tears to her eyes. She didn’t deserve his concern after she had tossed him aside like he was nothing, and for what? A toxic relationship with Ronald?! She let her head drop into her hand as her mind reeled at all the mistakes she’d made recently that no study guide could save her from.  
“Mione!” She snapped her head up to see Harry; his head poking out the window concern written all over his face. She was so lost in her own little world that she hadn’t even heard his car pull up. She moved quickly but clumsily. Swiftly picking up her bag as she walked over to his car her cheeks stained with tears. She knew Harry wanted answers, but she wouldn’t have felt less like talking if you had paid her to not speak. They sat in the car, but he didn’t pull away immediately. He only sat and stared in the direction of Draco’s car.  
“As much as I want to… I won’t barrage you with questions right now.” He sighed finally looking away from the car up ahead of them.  
“We don’t even have to talk at all if you don’t want to.” He said looking at her, and because he was her best friend, he put the car in reverse and began to back away from the clearing without waiting for the response he knew he wouldn’t receive.  
***  
He flinched when the door slammed. He wanted to go after her to apologize but he found himself glued to the seat. He watched in his rearview mirror as she stalked away. He’d assumed that she’d be back in a few minutes yelling and demanding for him to take her home, in fact he wished that would happen; because then maybe he could work up the courage to apologize before they arrived in her neighborhood, but she never came back, and he was too much of a coward to go after her. Draco knew he would never admit to anyone else, but he sometimes whispered the word into the darkness on cold nights when he couldn’t sleep, and he found himself letting his mind wander. Too afraid to do the things he really wanted to do, afraid to take risk, and too afraid to stand up to his parents. He didn’t know how long he sat in his car until her heard tires approaching. His heart raced when he thought of Hermione out there alone with whoever it was until he looked in his mirror and recognized the burgundy-colored car to be Harry’s. It occurred to him that it was odd that he was there, but the thought didn’t really register in his preoccupied mind. He was too busy wondering if he had seen his friend walking down the road and had come back to tell him off, and for some reason he again felt a strange longing for him to do so. He wanted someone to hold him accountable for his actions because that’s what Granger usually did, but this time she was silent, this time she had allowed him to disrespect her without any repercussions. She had done something though, leaving him sit confused and guilty in his car was worse than any earful she could have given him. He still hadn’t figured out what to do with this revelation when he heard a muffled cry from the car behind him.  
“Mione!” The thought that Harry was calling her name because she was missing flashed before Draco. This idea was quickly put to rest though when the top of her head appeared in his review mirror. This did nothing to warm his blood which had gone cold. The way that she scrambled to the car like she was in a horror movie running from some crazy murderer unsettled him. He watched as she ungracefully fell into the seat like she had been drained of all energy and it had taken all her strength just to walk over to it. The vehicle did not move right away after she shut the door, and Draco thought that raven-haired boy behind the wheel was most likely debating whether or not he was worth is time. He apparently was not because after few short seconds the distance between his car and theirs began to grow. The car had almost completely left the small area only the tip of the front hood could be seen around a large hedge, and this is when the panic settled over him. Because as the car moved further away so did Hermione. Scrambling to get out of his car he threw the door open and tried to stand only to realize that his seatbelt was still on. Making a noise under his breath he fumbled with the seatbelt something he had done thousands of times effortlessly he was now doing like it was his first time. Finally freeing himself he all but tumbled out the car; just in time to see a flash of red disappear. He moved away from his open door and kicked the gravel beneath his feet. He was furious with himself, but for what he did not know. Was it because he knew he had ruined his budding friendship with Hermione, or because the thought of that actually made him feel ill? All he’d had to do was keep his mouth shut, or apologize while she was still here, but he hadn’t, and now he wasn’t sure if he’d ever get the chance to. Walking back over to his car he fell softly onto the grassy patch and laid flat on his back. He stared up through the tangle of tree branches and watched the clouds trying his best not to think. This only worked for about two seconds until he could no longer ignore the word that had been bouncing around his head taunting him. He sat up quickly ripping up two handfuls of grass as he did. He threw the clusters with all his might his frustration growing as the green bits daintily floated through the air before landing softly on the ground. He put his head between his knees trying to combat pounding of his head which only caused the small voice who was still whispering that word to increase in volume. When he thought he might drive himself insane he uttered it. Loud enough for him to hear, but soft enough to get lost in the wind.  
“Coward.”  
***  
Harry had insisted on walking her up to her room. He had only left once he had directed the bathroom to wash her face and had made sure that she okay to be alone. After about a dozen  
‘I’m fine Harry’s’ He had left reluctantly. Hermione was grateful for him, and his presence did make her feel better, but she wanted to be alone. She had just come back upstairs to her room after locking her front door after his departure when She walked over to her closet and took a seat on the floor. She wanted to believe that Draco’s words hadn’t hurt he, and that she had only cried because he had caught her off guard, but she knew better. She was used to his senseless teasing; she had cried because there was some truth to his words. Not the part about her wanting to go back to Ron, but the part where he’d said no one wanted to date her. She had always had that fear, and it had only intensified when everyone around her had begun to couple up. Two years of school dances had gone by and she had stayed home with a book for all of them trying to convince herself she did not care. She had expected nothing more on year three when Ron had asked her to the spring formal. She had been elated because as much as she loved a good book, she wanted to have her own fairytale moment with fancy dresses and dashing prince charming. If she was being completely honest though she never really gotten it. Ron had been late picking her up which she didn’t mind, but then he had refused to dance. On top of that he had spent the night raving about how he could almost see Lavenders nipples through her tight dress. Every dance afterwards had felt like a chore and often times she longed for the days where she and her cat would curl up in the living room by the fireplace with a book wrapped up in a fantasy where she had danced the night away until her feet hurt. Draco was right though, she put up with his “crap”, and clung onto him like a lifeline because she was scared that if she left, she would never find anyone else who would even bother to take her to a dance. She knew this was un-rational, in fact she had looked up the stats; with several billion people in the world in an average person’s lifetime they’re likely to come across at least five people in their age range that find them attractive. Though this brought her comfort it did not stop her from pulling the garbage bag from under her bed and putting everything back where it belonged. Just in case.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not us taking 50 steps back. :I oops. Anyway enjoy if you can lol


	13. Chapter 13

Hi, so I've been gone for a bit. I swear it was not by choice, but my laptop literally crashed the week before Christmas. I called tech support and they said the only way to fix it was to completely wipe it. I later found it this was not true, but it was already too late. :( So, I lost all the prewritten chapters I had saved and I couldn't find motivation to rewrite them until recently. On top of that when my computer was wiped for some reason the new software doesn't have word and only supports WordPad which SUCKS. Bottom line, Thank you for being patient and I hope you enjoy this chapter even though it's super short. - Niki   
***  
Draco found himself standing amongst a group of people whom he would describe as the closest things he had to friends as they droned on about trivial things such as their planned weekend getaways to Italy for the coming summer, and although he nodded and laughed at the appropriate times he wasn’t truly listening. He was currently trying not to stare at Hermione who was sitting at a picnic table a few yards away from him. She was contently chatting with Luna, Neville, Harry, and Ginny, and although she wasn’t really speaking to him Ron was there. He couldn’t, or wouldn’t recognize the emotion that he’d felt when he’d seen them together, but it sure as hell wasn’t positive.  
“So, you really think you can get me an extra ticket to the ball?” Millicent a masculine looking girl he’d known since grade school asked him. She’d been explaining to him why she needed an extra ticket for the past few minutes, and truthfully, he couldn't relay any part of the story even if his life had depended on it.   
“It shouldn’t be a problem; I’ll ask my Mother as soon as she gets home.” Millicent smiled at him gratefully.  
“Are you sure it’s not too much trouble?” She asked for the thousandth time. He was growing tired of her begging, but he grit his teeth and forced a strained smile to form on his face.   
“Millicent, it’s fine. Consider it done okay?” She smiled again and visibly relaxed before nodding, and he almost felt bad after she'd turned her back to him to text her date about the ticket, she’d scored them. He was almost 100 percent sure that once you’d received your two tickets it was impossible to get more; that’s what made the ball so exclusive only members and their plus one’s were granted entry. Providing extra tickets implied that any old person off the street could attend which just was not true, but explaining that to her would have elongated the conversation, and in that moment, he was willing to do anything to prevent that. Sighing to himself he turned his attention back to Hermione, and tried to think a reasonable excuse to approach her.   
“Tell her you’re confused about how the presentation in class is going to work” He thought to himself. His eyebrows involuntarily furrowed as he immediately shot the idea down. In typical Hermione fashion they’d practiced the presentation ample times, and he knew it like the back of his hand. Besides she wasn’t stupid, she would instantly know he was full of crap. He was just about to plot another plan when the bell rang. He had half a mind to linger and wait for her to walk by in hopes of getting her attention but this too was conflicted. When he turned to where she had just been sitting and her small frame was nowhere to be seen. He stood and tried to pick her out of the mass of students, but couldn’t see her anywhere.   
“Hey mate.” His friend Blaise said casually clapping him on the shoulder startling him in the process causing him to jump.   
“Are you gonna stand here all day, or do you wanna start heading to class? You know Snape’s a bitch when he wants to be.” He continued peering at the side of his face which was still searching the crowd. Ignoring him Draco turned on his heel and began walking toward the building, and he was not surprised, but still slightly annoyed when he felt Blaise falling into step beside him. Draco had known Blaise his entire life and he was more like a brother than a friend, and while he usually enjoyed the dark-skinned boy’s company, he certainly enjoyed taking the piss out of Draco when he was already upset. In fact, if you asked him, Blaise would probably list it as one of his favorite pass times.   
“How come you’re going this way?” He asked nudging Draco with his shoulder.   
“I’m going home.” He replied plainly lazily motioning to the unmonitored gate behind the lunch room. Blaise suddenly grabbed his arm and stopped walking causing several students to bump into them mumbling and giving him dirty looks as they continued walking. Draco joined them after he shook off Blaise’s grasp. This didn’t deter him though, and in a few long strides he had caught up to him and grabbed his arm more forcefully this time.   
“What!?” He snapped causing a group of younger students to widen their eyes at them before they ran off giggling and whispering to each other.  
“The presentations are today; what about Hermione?”  
“What about her?” He asked throwing his nose slightly in the air out of habit as he began walking again. To his dismay Blaise didn’t miss a beat and resumed strolling beside him.   
“So... wont she be ticked off that you didn’t show?” He asked shrugging calmly.   
“Since when do you care about me pissing Granger off? If I remember correctly, we both used to give her hell in grade school.” Blaise chuckled and shook his head before responding.   
“C’mon mate. Who do you think you’re fooling?” Draco stopped walking without turning around when he felt Blaise fall behind him.   
“I know all about your little outing last weekend, and your run in with Pansy yesterday. On top of all that you practically stared a hole through her at lunch today.” Draco found himself clenching his fist and trying to remind himself that he liked Blaise, and therefore should not haul off on him.   
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.” He muttered halfheartedly the words lacking the malice he wanted to put behind them.  
“Oh, trust me, I’m just confused as you are mate.” Blaise said pausing.   
“I’m not claiming to know what's going on between you and the bint, because I don’t even think you know what's happening, but I am saying that you will ruin whatever it is if you stand her up. Don’t be a bloody wanker Luc.” He finished. Using the idiotic nickname, he’d come up for Draco almost two decades ago. He stood unsure how-to respond he hated when Blaise did this to him.   
“How many times do I have to tell you that “Luc” is not a cool name before it gets through your thick skull?” He said finally turning around. He was suddenly overwhelmed with gratefulness that Blaise knew him so well, and hadn’t stuck around for an actual response and had instead opted for heading to class. Draco had turned just in time to see him jogging up the stairs two at a time. He sighed and noted that he’d been doing that a lot recently before he rubbed a hand down his face dejectedly. The thing about Blaise was that he picked up on things before you did, and he would sit back with a sick grin as he watched you come to the realization on your own. On the rare occasions he did decide to share his observations he was always right. Today was different though, yes Draco was confused, and yeah Hermione would be pissed if he left her to do the presentation alone, but for once Blaise was wrong, and he couldn’t even gloat because for the first time ever he wished his friend's odd intuition would be correct; because what he didn’t know was that Draco had already ruined everything.


	14. Chapter 14

Draco trudged into the classroom just moments before the bell rang making a conscious effort to ignore Blaise’s amused gaze as he purposely settled into a seat two rows away from his.   
“Cutting it a bit close aren’t we Mr. Malfoy” Snape drawled with the closest thing to a smile he could produce on his face. Draco forced back the grimace that threatened to cross his face and replaced it with a friendly grin.   
“I just like to keep things interesting.” He said with a shrug wanting nothing more than to gag when the older man threw his head back and let loose a chorus of cracked laughter. He quickly composed himself and the friendly attitude that had graced him only seconds before was replaced with his usual air of superiority as his cold calculating gaze focused in on the rest of the class.   
“I assume that you’re all ready to present today.” He said making pointed eye contact with select students he knew were not prepared.   
“I won't waste time asking who wants to volunteer to go first, and instead will have you present in the order in which I received your project. If your name is so far down the list that you do not present today, then you will lose five points.” Draco’s classmates looked at each other furiously mouthing things to each other. Before Snape could continue Lily Moon a relatively attractive girl with long dark brown; almost black hair spoke out.   
“With all due respect professor; I don’t understand how the length of the class period is our fault.” A murmur of agreement swept across the classroom and snape looked over his nose at the girl and began speaking painfully slowly.   
“With all due respect Ms. Moon. You are not being punished for the length of the class. However, you are in fact being punished for you inability to manage your time and complete a simple assignment by the due date. Now, if I were you, I would sit quietly so that we may begin the presentations in hope that we might get to yours before the end of the day seeing as your project was one of the last that I received.” Draco looked over at Lily with pity as her eyes widened and blush deepened with every word. Many of the students who had moments prior shared similar sentiments hung their heads refusing to make eye contact with the man looking down at them in fear of receiving the same treatment.  
“Now that we’re all on the same page the first to present will be Ms. Granger, and Mr. Malfoy.” He said, swiftly taking the few short steps to his desk before dropping into his chair. Moving surprisingly gracefully as he did so. Draco made his way to the front of the room landing just behind the table with their project lying on it. As soon as he stood still Hermione began speaking her words faster than normal. Draco suppressed the urge to roll his eyes as he realized that she was trying to cut their presentation time. It was completely on brand for her and her bleeding heart, but he admired that helping others succeed was second nature for her.   
“Our project is on the negative and positive sides of the magnet and what happens when you place them on the same plane.” He remembered this to be his que and he carefully placed the pencil he had hanging in his hand in between the space of the four magnets.   
“As you can see the pencil appears to be floating. This is caused by something called...” Draco found himself zoning out and his gaze unintentionally flicked over to Blaise who was sitting with his arms crossed shaking his head with one eyebrow quirked and a smirk resting comfortably on his lips. He promptly made a mental note to kick his arse next time he was at the manor and quickly looked away. He was going to settle for blankly staring at the audience when he felt another pair of eyes watching him. He turned his head slightly and saw Harry staring at him as if her were a math problem he’d once known how to do but had since forgotten the equation for. Draco had expected him to look away when he met his gaze, but his green eyes continued to openly stare at him. Feeling overly scrutinized by Blaise and now Harry he shifted his feet and glued his eyes to the clock on the back wall just over everybody’s heads.   
“That’s all we have.” Hermione finished brightly, and he suddenly remembered where he was and what he was doing.   
“Excellent work you two.” Their professor said after two sharp claps.   
“Go place your project on the back table and write your name on the list back there for extra credit.” Draco nodded and followed Hermione who had snatched up the project and was walking with it in both arms. He could hear Snape calling up the next presenters, but he was more focused on what he could say to her to break the ice that had settled between them.   
“That wasn’t so bad.” He said lamely as she wrote her name on the list neatly. If he hadn’t seen her stiffen, he would have thought she hadn’t heard him at all because she completed her name without a word or a parting glance and quickly walked away. Taken aback by her behavior he absentmindedly wrote his name before rushing back to his seat feeling stupid. Of course, it wouldn’t be that simple, not after what he’d done. The feeling of exhaustion quickly crept over him and seeing no reason to stay awake he let it steal him away.   
***  
“Mate., c’mon wake up. Seriously I’m not gonna be late for my next lesson cause of you.” Draco felt a hand prodding his shoulder uncomfortably and he tried to swat it away.  
“If you’re lazy arse isn’t standing and ready to walk out of here in the next ten seconds, I'm leaving you, honest.” Draco snapped his eyes open eyes he recalled that he was in Snapes classroom and not in a bed at the manor.   
“Blaise, shut. Up.” He said sitting up slowly while stretching tiredly.  
“Well, well. Sleeping bitch is finally awake.” Draco cut his eyes at the Italian boy and snatched his bag from his outstretched hand as he rose from the desk yawning. He slung one strap over his shoulder and shoved his hands in his pockets before joining Blaise who was waiting by Snapes desk. The pair strolled toward the door and into the busy hall joining the large body of students trying to reach their next class. Draco reached up suddenly smacked Blaise who still had a smirk on his face on the back of the head. He looked over him incredulously   
“What the blood hell was that for!?” He cried rubbing the back of his head gingerly.   
“That stupid look you won’t stop giving me; I figured I could knock it off your face.” He said plainly smirking at him. Blaise dropped his hand immediately began laughing.   
“You’re mental, you know that right?” Draco opened his mouth reply when he felt a small hand grab his own. He stopped walking and looked down at the hand and then up at the owner. Hermione was standing against the wall looking directly at him, and when he realized the hand was hers; his own instinctively closed around it. He looked back at Blaise who was looking between the two quizzically, and after a second his gaze lingered on Draco and he gave him a slight nod before rejoining the thinning crowd and walking away giving Hermione one final look which Draco couldn’t decipher as he did so. He appeared to be the only confused one though, because she had given him a curt nod in response.   
“We need to talk.” She said after clearing her throat. He nodded and he quickly looked down at their hands to ensure that he wasn’t imagining her firm hold. This however proved to be a bad idea because she also looked down. She quickly snatched her hand away upon realizing that they were still connected.   
“Follow me.” She said wiping her hand on her shirt as she hastily turned and began making her way down the hall. Draco stood stunned as he replayed the disgusted look that had graced her features as she had wiped her hand like he was some snotty toddler who had touched her with candy-stained fingers. He sniffed once and tried to convince himself that it did not bother him as he dipped his head down and followed her at a distance. She yanked open a closet that housed various school supplies and entered without hesitation, and he momentarily wondered how many times she’d been in here, and with who? He quickly decided he did not want to know the answer to the last question, and he shook his head as he gave the hall a once over to ensure that no one was watching before ducking inside. The small room was fairly large for a closet, but it was pact with shelves and boxes all labeled in loopy script with black marker. His eyes jumped around the room taking everything in before they landed on Hermione who was standing underneath the singular lightbulb that was emitting warm yellow light. She looked ethereal standing underneath it, and it made the short frizzy hair on the top of her head look like a soft halo. This was a stark contrast to her stiff posture and the deep-set frown lines by her mouth accompanied by the dark look present in her eyes. The atmosphere was tense, and Draco had to fight the urge to make a joke to break the heavy silence that hung between them. Ordinarily he would have made a snide remark about them being alone in a closet together, but on an ordinary day even before their silly deal had transpired she wouldn’t be looking at him like he was the last person on earth she wanted to see.   
“Are we still on for tea with your mother Saturday or what?” She sighed looking like his mere presence had drained her. He snapped his eyes which been on a box marked copy paper up at her unreadable face.   
“You’re still coming?” She rolled her eyes at him and crossed her arms impatiently.   
“You already paid me, and I promised I would help.”  
“right...” He replied recalling that he’d forwarded her the money after he’d gotten home from the library.   
“Ok, so what time should I come over?” She asked looking up at him expectantly. He shuffled his feet uncomfortably and shrugged.   
“Around noon, but I can pick you up if you want.” He hoped that he did not sound as desperate and hopeful as he thought he did, but he could not help the surge of anticipation that swelled in his chest.   
“No, it’s fine I can drive.”  
“If you could drive you wouldn’t be doing this in the first place.” He said cheekily with a smirk before he could stop himself. After his brain caught up to his mouth, he gave her a sheepish smile which was only returned by her frown deepening.   
“I’ll see you Saturday.” She said stiffly not even acknowledging his tease. Before he could think of what to say in response, she had slid past him her long hair brushing his arm as she did. He stood unsure what to do as the door slammed shut and she was gone again.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I rewrote this like six times because I didn't like it, so here is all six versions jammed together. Sorry.

Hermione was nervously tapping her fingers on the top of her steering wheel as she made her way to Malfoy Manor. She just wanted this lunch to be over with so that she could use the money Draco had sent to her without guilt. She sighed as she pulled up to a red light and stole a glance at her fingers which were still stumbling about clumsily, and she noted that Draco’s fingers moved more gracefully than hers, and she wondered if he played piano. Despite herself she smiled as she imagined him growing frustrated with a new piece he was learning, before huffing angrily and starting from the beginning.   
“Snap out of it.” She thought to herself shaking her head as if that would erase the image she had created in her mind. She tried not think about him, she really did, but it was like the universe would do things to purposely remind her of him. For example, Thursday after school she had found a stark white hair in her car, and she had sat for a full minute staring at it trying to decide if was the same shade as Draco’s. Ginny had found her like that, just staring and she had offered some stupid excuse about a science project before quickly saying goodbye her cheeks a deep shade of red. Only when she pulled into her driveway did she realize that Draco had never once been in her car, and that the hair had obviously come from the faux fur lining the bottom of her denim skirt. They had spent such little time together, but he had still managed to leave a large impression on her life. She had truly thought that they were growing past their child like bickering, and worse than that she’d thought that she could trust him, that they were friends. She might’ve even considered the fact that she almost fancied him a little bit.   
“Don’t even go there.” She thought to herself bitterly putting a little too much weight on the gas when the light changed, she did not fancy Draco Malfoy. Maybe she fancied the fake version of him that he’d shown her, but not the real him.   
“Unless the fake him is the real him” She murmured under her breath before she realized what she was saying. Knowing that she could sit in her car and over think this for hours, she was grateful that Draco was standing on his front porch when she pulled up to his house. He immediately began walking towards her car, and she took a deep breath before snatching her keys out of the ignition.   
“Here goes nothing.” She breathed. Draco was nearing her door and she briefly noted that he looked quite nice in his usual get up. A loose Dark green shirt tucked into his trousers with the first couple of buttons undone. His camel-colored pants matched her sandals and if she weren’t so utterly annoyed with him, she’d have made a joke about them needing to stop matching all the time.   
“Granger.” He coughed as he opened her door for her. His eyes flicked over to a large window in the front of his house. She followed his gaze and saw two figures standing in the entryway. Realizing that the act began now she turned to face Draco with a large smile on her face. He seemed to relax knowing that she had understood his message and gave her a smile that didn’t reach his eyes. Standing from her car she gave him hug that surprisingly did not feel that least bit awkward.   
“Are you ready?” He whispered in her ear as he snaked his arms around her waist. As usual the contact made her pulse quicken, and she worried that he might hear her heart beating. Blushing she quickly nodded her head while trying to dispel the intrusive thought.   
“Let’ s do this.” She said pulling out of his embrace while reaching down for his hand. He quickly laced his fingers with hers and the pair made their ascent up the long drive. They stopped just in front of the large door and Draco gave her hand one final reassuring squeeze before he pushed it open. She was instantly struck with the familiar spicy sent she had begun to associate with tall blonde by her side. He was pulled past the threshold and lead to a sitting room where two figures stood impossibly still looking like roman statues. She tried not to stare, but when looking at the two it was apparent why Draco was so attractive, both parents had long straight white hair, and striking eyes to accompany their seemingly perfectly symmetrical faces.   
“Mother, Father. This is Hermione Granger.”  
“Mrs. and Mr. Malfoy, I’m pleased to meet you both.” She smiled hoping she didn’t sound as nervous as she really was ; her lazy grip on Draco’s hand tightening. His mother made a dismissive motion with her hand and brilliant smile broke across her features. She made her way across the room with more grace than Hermione could even aspire to poses as she swept her into her arms. She smelled of flowers, and she instantly felt relaxed in the woman’s embrace.   
“Just call me Narcissa, there’s no need for those silly formalities.” She said plucking her hand out of Draco’s as she guided her to beautifully embroidered sofa. She sat down only feeling slightly uncomfortable and the striking woman sat down as well beaming as her eyes roamed her face.   
“Oh, you are just gorgeous.” She gushed clasping her hands to her chest. Hermione felt a blush forming on her cheeks again and she dipped her head down.   
“She’s even prettier than Astoria.” She said turning to look at Draco who had seated himself in a chair with matching fabric next to the couch. Hermione looked at Narcissa and smiled.   
“Oh, I don’t know about that, but thank you all the same.”   
“Nonsense” the long-haired woman said shaking her head as she spoke. Hermione had almost forgotten about the stoic man in the corner until he spoke.  
“It seems her ego has also bested Astoria’s.” He said moving to stand behind his son flashing her a grim smile.   
“Call me Lucius” He said as he squeezed his son’s shoulder. Hermione nodded knowing that she would probably never be able to call him that without a constant reminder.   
“Thank you both for inviting me into your home it’s absolutely lovely.” She said as she drank in the large staircase and the beautiful French doors.   
“The pleasure is all ours, believe me. “Lucius said looking over at his wife, and Hermione realized that the woman appeared to be bursting from excitement.   
“Yes, I’m afraid my Mother had become quite restless waiting for the day to arrive. Draco drawled as he waved his fingers lazily in the air as he spoke, and again she found herself imagining him behind a piano.   
“Well, Draco why don’t you give her the tour while your father and I finish setting up for lunch.” Narcissa said giving Hermione’s hand a squeeze.   
“Yes, Mother he said rising from his seat. Narcissa stood as well and walked over to her husband who was holding out his arm for her.   
“Meet us in the garden in a half hour.” She said before turning to whisper excitedly to her Husband as they disappeared behind a large double door. Hermione found herself letting out a deep breath as Draco came and flopped onto the couch taking the spot his mother had occupied moments earlier.   
“They absolutely love you.” He sighed, a triumphant smirk gracing his face. As he stared at the curtains. She found herself watching him as a sliver of light coming from the window slashed his face. His skin looked like porcelain in the light, and she found that his looked more like a cloudy gray and lacked the stormy quality that his fathers contained.   
“They?” She asked mentally scolding herself for staring as she tore her eyes away.   
“Yes Granger, they. Father just displays his emotions differently than my Mother does.” She nodded and stared down at her hands awkwardly as an uncomfortable silence seated itself on the couch between them.   
“Can I show you something?” He asked abruptly shattering the silence staring at her expectantly. She was still upset with him, and she wanted him to know that, but she was also curious about the rest of his house.   
“He saw your house, it’s only fair you see his.” She rationalized as she felt her curiosity getting the best of her.   
“I suppose.” She said coolly making sure her voice lacked the warmth it usually contained. The two rose from the couch and Draco began walking towards the stairs.   
“It’s just up here.” He said motioning towards the ceiling as he waited for her to make her way over.   
Hermione placed her hand on the dark wood railings, and she wondered if Draco had ever slid down them before. She began following him up the stairs when she began to picture how different their childhoods were. She came to a stop at the top of the stairs and a small gasped escaped her lips.   
“This is the west wing, only it’s not really big enough to be considered a wing we just call it that.” He said sounding slightly embarrassed. He continued down the hall and she followed him until he stopped in front of a seemingly random door before throwing it open.   
“This is my room.” He said strolling in apparently experiencing none of the discomfort that she’d had when he’d been in hers. She noted that it was mostly bare aside from the desk but decided that she would have been more surprised if there were lots of things in it.   
“I’d know this was your room if I saw it.” She said facing the large window. She had not really intended to say it aloud, but the words had slipped out and there was nothing she could do about it. She was relieved when he didn’t reply but only came to stand beside her.   
“The room I wanted to show you is just at the end of the hall.” She turned her head and looked at him curiously wondering what other room he wanted her to see.   
“C’mon.” He said finally turning away from the window and pausing at the threshold of his room. Hermione found herself following him despite the nervous ball that was forming in the pit of her stomach. She felt rather foolish, they had been alone multiple times, and yet this time it was so tense. Draco stopped at the tall wooden double doors and looked at her.   
“Go on.” He said nodding his head toward the handle. Her eyes latched onto his and she found herself unable to look away. It reminded her of books she read where the lead characters stared into each other’s eyes and found themselves entranced. They often kissed at this point in the story as well, and she found that she was rather curious about what it would be like to kiss Draco Malfoy. She wasn’t sure how long they had stayed like that; staring at each other, but she was brought back to reality when she felt her chin tilt forward ever so slightly. He probably hadn’t noticed the minute incline, but her actions left her mortified as a deep blush became present on her cheeks. She quickly whipped her head away from his and tried to distract herself from the dangerous path she had almost gone down by opening the door. Her breath caught as she was hit by the smell of old literature. The room was huge and had rows of giant identical dark wooden bookshelves that stretched from floor to ceiling with books crammed neatly on every shelf. Her eyes widened as the skipped from shelf to shelf finally landing on a little corner that had a worn comfy looking armchair and a small fireplace.   
“This… this room is wonderful…” She trailed off as she stepped pass the threshold and breathed in deeply. She raised a hand and timidly dragged it across a bookshelf that was as tall as a large tree. Her hand came back clean and she was slightly disappointed that there wasn’t a layer of dust coating the shelf but thought the room was just as marvelous anyway.   
“I thought you might like it.” Draco said as he strode over and picked up a book a few shelves over from hers.   
“If I had this room in my house I’d never leave.” She chuckled breathlessly as she walked down the aisle the shelves created.   
“Trust me, I spend a lot of time in here.” He said, and although he wasn’t yelling his voice rang throughout the room.   
“Honestly this the best collection I’ve ever- oh my God!” She cried cutting herself off as her gaze caught on a tired looking book with faded lettering.   
“What!” Draco said hurrying over to where she was panic etched on his face. Unable to form a sentence she only shook her head and walked over the book gently removing it from the shelf with trembling hands. Taking a deep breath to collect her thoughts she furrowed her brows and cleared her throat.   
“This-this is a first edition F. Scott Fitzgerald. It’s super rare.” She rushed out turning to look at him.   
“That? Take if you want.” He said breathing in has the concerned wrinkles in his face ironed themselves out  
“Oh no, I could never” She replied stumbling over her words trying to carefully put the book back where it belonged.   
“Granger, most of the books in here are super rare, and expensive. No one will miss that one.” He said plainly shrugging. Hermione bit her lip and found herself considering accepting his offer for a millisecond. She immediately felt greedy and slightly embarrassed.   
“No, I don’t know what I’d do with something that expensive. I think I’d be too afraid to even read it.” She confessed chuckling nervously  
“Well promise me you’ll come back and read it then.” He said taking a small step forward while studying her face. Feeling more confident than she had all day she firmly shook her head setting her lips into a thin line.  
“No, you know I can’t do that.” She said pressing her back against the cool wall trying to create some space between her and the tall blonde standing before her.   
“No, I don’t know anything.” He said curtly still examining her face. She wished he would blink or that the nonexistent dust in the room might float into his eyes anything to rid her of his intense gaze.  
“Don’t play Stupid Draco.” She said pushing past him deciding that she’d had quite enough of him staring at her. She had to be here for lunch, but she didn’t have to play his games. She began walking across the room hoping that they could spend the few minutes between lunch silently looking at books, but she heard his footsteps trailing hers.   
“Hermione, wait!” He sighed grabbing her wrist reminding her of their first encounter that had had gotten her into this mess.   
“Can we please talk about this?” He stopped seeing if she were going to answer, but she gave none.  
“I am so sorry.” He continued ignoring her angry glare that was resting hotly on their connected arms.   
“You gave me so many chances, and I know I blew all of them, so I’m not even going to ask you for another. I just need you to know that I didn’t mean anything that I said the other day.” He tried to catch her eyes, but she kept them glued on his pale fingers gripping her wrist.   
“I wanted to go after you as soon as you left but-”  
“Then why didn’t you?” She asked snapping her head up to look at the boy standing before her.   
“You knew I couldn’t have gone far, so what stopped you from walking over and apologizing?” She saw as he tried not to squirm under her intense gaze, but she didn’t care. She was tired of watering herself down, so she was easier for people to handle. She was tired of being walked all over, and she wasn’t going to stand for it anymore.   
“I don’t know, I just-”  
“Just couldn’t be bothered, right?” She sneered snatching her arm away from his. She watched him as he struggled to respond taking note of the fact that he seemed genuinely upset, and she was still trying to figure whether or not she cared when he began speaking again.  
“Listen I know it looks bad, but do you honestly think I said all those things and just couldn’t be bothered to find out if you were okay or not?” He winced as he spoke looking at her with a guarded expression.   
“Well, what am I supposed to think Draco?’ She cried shrugging and throwing her hands up.   
“You never talked to me about it. Instead, you just tried to act like nothing was wrong.” She paused making sure he was understanding what she was saying.   
“Yeah, you were a dick and at first I was upset about the things you said about me, but I know that didn’t come from nowhere. I’m angry with myself for running off and crying and for not being more mad at you, but above all I’m disappointed that you didn’t trust me enough to talk to me about it. After all of the humiliating stuff I told you about my relationship with Ron you just shut me out.” The room fell silent after she finished her rant, and again she found herself trying to read Draco’s unreadable expression.   
“I tried to talk to you in class-” He started, but she cut him off with an incredulous laugh 

“But you didn’t say sorry! You can’t just turn people away and then call them back when it’s convenient for you. That’s not how friendship works, and I know Blaise puts up with your crap, but that’s probably because he does the same thing to you. I’m here telling you right now that no one else will.” They stood in silence for a while neither person knowing how to it.  
“I’m sorry- I guess I’m just not used to people expecting much from me, and I already know you hate me so I’m not saying this so you feel bad for me, but I’ve never had anyone want to know why I do what I do.” He stopped and paused, and Hermione used the time to add her input.   
“Draco Malfoy, I do not hate you. I have every right to…but I don’t.” She said her voice soft but firm. Her words seemed to calm him, and his tense shoulders relaxed. He opened his mouth to speak and then snapped it shut as if he were wracking the corners of his mind to find the words that would do whatever was going on inside his head justice.   
“After I proposed we continued our relationship at school, and you shot the idea down; I was confused and embarrassed too- I guess.” He said awkwardly looking down at his feet.   
“Why?” She asked curiously. It was odd to see him acting so unsure of himself when he was usually the physical embodiment of confidence.   
“because I couldn’t stand the thought of you being embarrassed to be seen with me. I realized that I enjoyed your company the day you hit the statue in my driveway, and in that moment I thought that maybe you didn’t feel the same way. I know it wasn’t right, but I didn’t know how to handle it. So, I deflected.” The room fell silent and Hermione found herself shocked at his words. She had always assumed that she was the one too invested into their time together; it never once crossed her mind that it was something that they were both experiencing. The sound of a grandfather clock cut through her thoughts causing her to jump. Startled by the sound she had unintentionally stepped closer to Draco. She looked up at him intending to apologize but her words got caught in her throat when she met his gaze. He didn’t look away when she caught him staring as he usually would, but instead continued to allow his eyes to roam her face. Usure of how to react she ducked her head down allowing her hair to cover her face.   
“Looks like we should go meet your parents” She said lamely clearing her throat. She risked a glance at Draco and saw him shake his head slightly before he responded.   
“Right, we should get going.” He said sounding distracted as he brushed past her. She moved to follow him and then stopped short.   
“Do you play piano?’ She asked before truly processing the absurdity of the question. He turned to look at her visibly confused.   
“Pardon?” He asked quirking an eyebrow at her. She stood without answering, she wasn’t entirely sure herself why she had asked so, she definitely had no valid explanation to give him.   
“Do you play piano?” She asked again after short while trying to pretend as if it were perfectly normal for her to be asking him that.  
“Yeah.” He said pausing still watching her curiously.  
“I play, but I’m pretty shit…Why do you ask?” He asked from the doorway.  
“I… Don’t know” She answered truthfully shrugging slightly.   
“just thought I’d ask.” She finished willing him to drop it before she embarrassed herself.   
“So, lets go meet your parents” She said in a false enthusiastic voice not allowing him to respond.  
“okay, It’s this way.” He said hesitantly as he turned and began walking again his eyebrows still furrowed. Hermione mentally cursed herself and tried to figure out why she had even asked the question in the first place. Stuff was weird between them, and he no doubt thought her to be a lunatic, but as they passed through the parlor and she spotted a black piano she found she didn’t care what he thought. Because it became clear to her why such a trivial fact was so important to her. If Draco actually did play piano then it meant that maybe the version of him she envisioned in her mind wasn’t so fictitious after all, and that thought made her smile.


	16. Chapter 16

Lunch went off without a hitch, and this bothered Draco. He was struggling to keep his face from sinking into scowl while Hermione was grinning and chatting animatedly with his parents. He wanted some sort of reassurance that she was experiencing the same thing that he was, but she gave no indication that their earlier conversation had any affect on her. Sighing he turned his attention back to the conversation just in time to catch the word ball.  
“That sounds wonderful, I’d love to attend.” Hermione said while poking his leg beneath the table. They had made it all the way to dessert without his mother bringing up the wretched occasion, but it was becoming apparent to him that his luck had run out.   
“Well, we would love to have you there. You two make quite an attractive couple.” Narcissa said as she motioned to Hermione and the Draco.   
“Don’t tell anyone I said this, but you will put those other poor girls to shame.” She finished excitedly as she stared off into the distance while she no doubt planned on parading Hermione around the gathering like a show horse.   
“You said it was the fifth correct?” Hermione asked pretending as if this were the first she was hearing of the event. Draco had to admit, she was extremely good at the whole pretending thing and wondered how many other times she’d done something like this.  
“Yes, we’ll have to go shopping for a dress, I can take you to my stylist Fleur. She makes gorgeous custom gowns.” Draco could tell that his mother was about to launch into a rant and decided that is time to deliver the bad news.   
“Wait- won’t you be visiting your grandparents that weekend?” He asked turning his head to face Hermione. She looked over at him perplexed for a few moments before her eyes widened and mock realization dawned upon her.   
“That is the first weekend of June isn’t it?” She said as she exaggeratedly slumped her shoulders down. His mother looked between the two confused.  
“Draco, what are you talking about?”  
“I’m so sorry Mrs. Malfoy, but I’ll be in the countryside with my Grandparents for the week.” he watched Hermione and then his mother she spoke becoming mildly concerned when he saw her frowning.   
“And you’re sure it can’t be rearranged?” She asked hopefully clutching her hands to her chest. Hermione nibbled on her lip and shook her head in response.   
“I’m afraid not, I do this every year with my grandparent and there is no way they’d let me out of it.” Narcissa visibly deflated at the girl’s words and Draco almost felt bad, but he would not have to do all this if they would just let him be. After a few more gripes from his Mother the conversation went back to normal, and before he knew it he was rising from his seat to walk Hermione to her car.   
“Don’t be a stranger dear, we’ll have to do this again sometime” Narcissa said tightly hugging Hermione   
“Yes, it was very nice to officially meet you.” Lucious said coming to stand next to his wife who was acting as if they were never going to see the girl again- which wasn’t too far off from the truth.   
“Well, we’ll let you two say your goodnights” The older woman said as she and her husband turned and made their way back to the garden to begin cleaning up. When they finally reached her car, Hermione let out a long breath, and that was when Draco realized that it was really over. No more pretending, no more being able to randomly grab her hand, nothing. In fact, they probably wouldn’t speak after this.   
“I feel badly.” Hermione said from her car where she was comfortably seated.   
“Why?” He asked masking the fact that he was shocked she hadn’t whipped out his driveway without sparing him a glance.   
“I dunno she just seemed really excited.” She said sliding her hands over her steering wheel as she spoke.   
“Oh that? She’ll forget about it as soon as she hears the morning gossip tomorrow.” What felt like the hundredth silence befell them and he saw her fingering her keys that were hanging limp in the ignition.   
“Well thanks for coming” he rushed out rubbing the back of his neck while refusing to look her directly in the eyes.  
“Don’t worry about it… Thanks for not snitching on me” She said after a while motioning to the new statue a few feet behind her car. He wasn’t sure what to say next, so he nodded his head slowly.  
“Well, I should probably get going now.” She said starting the car flashing him one of her tight forced smiles. Not trusting himself to not say something stupid he opted for another awkward head nod. As her car began its slow descent from his driveway he found himself wishing she’d hit the statue again so that she would have to stay a little longer. She had almost cleared the driveway when the car started rolling forward again stopping in the spot it had just occupied seconds before. He tilted his head down and look at Hermione quizzically.   
“I know it’s not my place, but…” she trailed off twisting her lips  
“But you’re going to say something anyway, so?”  
“I really do think you should find a nice girl to go to the ball with.” Draco began to respond when she cut him off using the stern playful voice had come to miss.  
“It would make your mother very happy.” She quipped raising an eyebrow at him. He rolled his eyes and lightly sneered at her.   
“It would make me very happy if you wouldn’t hit the statue on your way out this time.” He finished smirking.   
“I’m serious.” She said stretching her eyes to add emphasis as she began backing out again.   
“So am I, I’ll deal with my parents you just focus on what you’re doing” He chuckled motioning toward the street behind her.   
“Oh, bugger off Malfoy.” She laughed from her car, and he couldn’t hep but grin as she released a triumphant laugh as she successfully pulled out and was now parallel to the road.   
“You got lucky.” He called back crossing his arms over his chest.  
“Goodbye Draco.” She said throwing him a dismissive hand as she continued to laugh. Draco realized as she pulled off into the evening sun that something had shifted. He wasn’t sure what, but he didn’t feel as heavy as he had earlier.   
***   
Two weeks had gone by since the luncheon at that Manor, and Draco had spent every moment unbearably bored. He had not expected returning back to his old way of life to be so drab and miserable. He would often wander around his home wishing that it were still acceptable for him to call Hermione or force her to hang out with him under the guise of getting to know each other better to fool his parents. He would see her in class, and she would always wave, but he missed their senseless bickering and the conversations they would have when he would call her in the late evening for help with homework. Going and just talking to her had crossed his mind he wasn’t entirely sure if he was in good standing with her. Sure, they had cracked a joke or two before she left, but the unfinished conversation in the library often plagued his mind. Groaning In frustration Draco slammed shut the book he was pretending to read and rose from the sitting room where he and his parents had been together for the past hour. He often sat with his parents and found them good company because they didn’t speak much when working, but now he didn’t want silence. He wanted to laugh until his sides ached and he couldn’t see from the tears clouding his vision, He wanted to have a conversation with someone his age who wasn’t asking for something by the end of it. He wanted to hang out with Hermione, and the fact that he couldn’t only made him want to do it more.   
“What’s the matter dear?” His mother said looking up from the pillow she was embroidering for one of her friend’s baby shower. Draco fought back the urge to roll his eyes and shrugged.   
“Nothing. I’m going for a walk.” He stated trying to flee the room before his mother made him sit down and insist he talk about his feelings. However, Narcissa Malfoy did not just drop things, and she had taken note of her son’s foul mood and she was determined to remedy it.   
“Well, I would like to speak with you before you go?” She said sweetly. Draco froze, he dreaded that voice, it always meant that she had decided what was “wrong” with him and had concocted some unnecessary solution.   
“Do we have to do this right now mother?” He asked tiredly. He tried to catch his father’s eye for support, but he apparently had become completely engrossed the large ring he wore on his finger daily.   
“Bloody wanker” Draco thought to himself has he glared at the man’s head. Seeing that there was no escape he sank into the chair closest to him and clapped his hands together.  
“Okay, what do want to discuss?” He asked already exhausted from the conversation.   
“Your father and I have noticed you’ve been touchy the past couple of weeks.” She said staring at him concerned.   
“It’s the end of senior year, I’m just a bit stressed is all.”   
“Well why don’t you take a break? You spend so much time in the library studying that can’t be good for you. Go out and something else for a while” His father said from his chair. If Draco were a blusher he would have been beet read at the moment. He didn’t realize that his parents had noticed that he had been spending an increased amount of time in the library, and while that in itself was not embarrassing what he would do in there was. He did not go to the library to study he went to the library and listened to a playlist Hermione had made him upon his request. He would go and make himself comfortable in a secluded corner and put in his headphones, he would sit there for hours listening to each song while remembering how her hair had blown all over the place in his car while she played air guitar. It helped pass the time, and it stopped him from replaying all the conversations where he had said something detrimental.   
“Well, what do you suggest I do?” He sighed tiredly wanting to go hide in one of the guest rooms since the library was no longer safe.  
“Why don’t you plan something with Hermione? She’s such a sweet young Lady, we would love to have her back over.” His mother said sounding hopeful at the last part. Lucious sat nodding in agreement.   
“She’s busy” Draco huffed clenching his jaw. Narcissa frowned slightly at this and her neatly plucked brows furrowed.   
“Speaking of, I don’ think I’ll be attending the ball.” Draco hadn’t spoken with his parents about the ball since Hermione told them she’d be out of town for it, but the event was only a month away and he needed time to convince them to let him stay home.   
“I beg your pardon?” His mother said in an even tone daring him to repeat such foolery with her piercing eyes.   
“I just think it will save us a lot of hassle. If I don’t bring a date It will seem rude if I don’t dance with the other girls” He reasoned looking between his two parents.   
“Did Hermione tell you it was uncomfortable for her?” Lucius asked seeming intrigued.   
“No, but I would be very bothered if she were getting all dressed up to go dance with suitors trying to flirt with her.” He answered, and he realized that this were true. Not because he thought he had any sort of claim to her, but because the boys that were present at these types of events have no respect for women, and he thought she was too good for any of them.   
“I knew it!” His mother cried joyously clasping her hands together. Draco sat horrified remembering the first time she had done this.   
“Mother what have you done now.” He mumbled as that last time she’d been this excited she had announced Astoria to be his future bride.   
“If this is about Astoria, I’m sorry, but I will have to refuse as I am perfectly happy with Hermione.” Narcissa rolled her eyes delicately and waved her hand at her son.   
“Astoria has been out the picture; this is about the ball.” She gushed leaning forward in her seat.   
“I knew you wouldn’t go to the ball without Hermione, so I pushed it back by eight days” She exclaimed smiling proudly at him.   
“You did what?” He whispered horrified feeling as if the breath had just been knocked out of him.   
“Eight days might seem arbitrary, but I vividly remember Hermione saying she would be in the country for one week. So, the ball is pushed back by a week and one day, so she can have time to get ready it would be no fun if she stepped off the plane and then had to rush home to get hair and makeup done.” She babbled waving her arms around   
“How… how did you manage to pull that off?” Draco stammered looking at his father with wide eyes.   
“We’re one of the main sponsors this year, so we pulled a couple of strings. Looks like you’ll need to call Ms. Granger so you can start color coordinating your outfits” His father replied winking sounding just as proud as his wife. Draco sat his mouth hanging agape. His plan had been foolproof, and yet his parents had undone all of his planning with a pen and their checkbooks. He would have to teach her to ballroom dance and prep her on rich people etiquette. That didn’t just happen overnight, and it would require a lot of time and practice. He felt as if her were going to have splitting headache when realization dawned upon him. They would have to spend a lot of time together to get ready for the ball. A lopsided grin formed on his face, and he looked back at his parents.   
“See how much happier he is” His mother laughed.  
“Go and tell her, I’m sure she’ll be excited too.” She continued waving him towards the door. So, without thinking twice he thanked his parents and ran to the kitchen grabbed his keys and got in his car.   
***   
Draco stood with his finger hovering over the doorbell.   
“What if she’s not even home right now?” He thought to himself as he tried to work up the nerve to press the darned button.   
“Just do it.” He muttered quickly pushing down on the smooth plastic before he could talk himself out of it. He heard voices and movement inside and he suddenly regretted his decision. What if her father answered, what if they hated him from the horrid stories she’d tell about him in grade school? His thoughts were interrupted when the door opened and a woman with a kind face and smooth silky hair that looked gold in the evening sun stood before him in the threshold.   
“Good evening Mrs. Granger” He said nodding his head curtly.   
“What a pleasant surprise, are you here to see Mione?’ She asked smiling sweetly a mischievous glint in her eyes.   
“Yes ma’am, there’s been a change in some plans we made a few weeks ago, and I wanted to tell her in person.”  
“How kind. Why don’t you come in and she’ll be down in a second.” Draco stepped into the foyer as the young-looking woman held the door open for him. He stood awkwardly by the front door as she walked to the base of the stairs and called for her daughter through the ceiling.   
“Sweetie you have a visitor, come down as quickly as you can okay?” She turned back and smiled at him before going into another room. There was a loud thumping noise, and Hermione came around the corner of the stairwell her hair in a large messy bun. She was wearing a large burnt orange colored sweatshirt that covered whatever pants she was wearing beneath and ankle high beige socks.   
“Who is it- Draco?” She asked stopping short; slowing down as she descended the remainder of the stairs.   
“What are you doing here?”  
“There has been a rather large disturbance of plans and I need to discuss them with you. Is now a good time?” Her eyes widened as he spoke, and she nodded her head.  
“Yeah, we can talk out back.” She motioned to the sliding glass door and they both made their way toward it. When it was securely shut and Hermione had checked that her mom wasn’t listening she turned to look at him, her face serious.   
“What’s going on?”   
“Well, in an attempt to be good parents, my mother and father decided to pull some strings and have the ball postponed so you can attend.” He slightly cringed at his words not knowing how she was going to react.   
“They did what?” She sank slowly onto the wooden steps of her deck and nervously nibbled her lip.   
“I know, it’s bad.” He joined her sitting gingerly on the step below hers.   
“I never told them how long I was staying, maybe you can tell them I’ll still be out of town?” She questioned sounding optimistic.   
“Sorry Granger, but we slipped up, and you said week at lunch.”   
“I did, didn’t I” She mumbled as she remembered what she said  
“Looks like we have a ball to attend.” She sighed rolling her eyes.  
“At least you’ll get what you wanted” He smirked impishly. She looked at him confused.   
“You said you wanted me to go to the ball to appease my mother, and now I am.” He shrugged smiling at her.  
“That’s not what I meant she cried. Swatting his arm before resting her head on her knees which were pulled up to her chest.   
“We have a lot of work to do huh?” He nodded at her solemnly.   
“It wont be so bad though, wearing nice clothes and eating expensive food doesn’t sound too terrible.” She continued staring past him and at the yard.   
“Yeah, but we’ll have to spend a lot more time together.” He cautioned looking at her.   
“So?”   
“So… Aren’t you still angry with me?”  
“No.” She answered plainly making eye contact with him.   
“I was never that angry with you to begin with.”  
“oh…” he managed not really knowing how to reply.   
“I meant what I said earlier though, I’m done being a punching bag for people.”  
“I really am sorry about what I said.” He said looking away from her guiltily.  
“I know.” She paused staring past him at the yard.  
“I’m going to give you one final chance, but only because we’ll be working very closely together for the next month, and if I’m completely honest I missed you considerably.” She shrugged giving him a small smile. He looked up at her and his chest swelled as he felt a lopsided grin of his own forming on his lips.   
“Also, now that I know that your parents love me I’ll just rat you out to them next time you step out of line” She stated her gin slowly spreading into a large devilish smile as she spoke.   
“You wouldn’t” He breathed slapping a hand to his chest.  
“Oh yes I would.”   
“Over my dead body Granger.” He chortled.   
“Done.” She challenged lifting an eyebrow at him. Feeling happier than he had in weeks he decided to humor her.   
“You think you can take me?”  
“Careful Draco my parents are home, what would they think?” She smirked at him, and without really thinking about it reached his hands out and gently jabbed her sides tazing her. She leapt up wide eyed stepping away from him   
“Draco Malfoy do not come a step closer to me,” She warned as he rose to his feet.   
“Granger, are you… ticklish?”  
“No.” She lied taking another step away from him. He straightened putting his hands in his pockets.  
“Oh, so you wont mind if I just…-” He trailed off lunging for her. She yelped and ducked under his arms jumping over the four stairs on the deck. He turned quickly and followed suit. She was giggling like a mad man threatening to get him back when he least expected it as they lapped the yard her hair coming undone and trailing behind her in the process. Quickly scanning his surrounding he stopped chasing after her and ducked behind a small bush squatting and hunching his back to avoid being seen. He heard her pause while breathing heavily.   
“Draco…Draco where are you?”  
“Lets just put an end to this and call a truce.” He clapped a hand over his mouth trying to quiet his snickers. His legs were beginning to burn, but he didn’t want to jump too early or she would escape; he had to time it perfectly. He suddenly became aware of how quiet it was and he peaked over the leaves of the bush and was shocked when he didn’t see any signs of her or her unruly hair. He squinted at the oak tree a few feet away trying to determine if it was the evening glare distorting a branch or if it were her arm peaking from around it. He heard rustling behind him, and he whirled around still crouched to see Hermione a few inches away a crazed smile on her face.  
“Gotcha.” She sad throwing her body weight at him. He was off balance from being crouched and she tackled him laughing the whole time. He fell flat on his back and she was on top of him before he could react. She had one leg on either side of him straddling his chest leaving his legs to flop around. They were broth breathing heavily and her cheeks were flushed and eyes sparkling.   
“Look who has the upper hand now.” She smirked leaning over him and holding his arms to prevent him from moving. Her hair was cascading down like a curtain cover both their faces, and he stared up at her taking a mental photo of her face wanting to remember what it was like for Hermione Granger to smile at him. With rushed movement she quickly sat up and released his arms and her fingers lightly trailed up and down his sides. She did so for a few seconds before looking down at him confused.   
“You’re not ticklish?” She questioned looking down at him. He pretended to contemplate the answer before shaking his head.   
“No, I don’t think I am.” He shrugged as best he could while he could while she was still sitting on his chest. He reached out and grabbed her hips the sweatshirt slightly riding up revealing the pair of black biker shorts she was wearing beneath. He faltered for a moment the warning bells in his mind telling him that he was crossing into dangerous territory. He looked up at her face again and promptly silenced them as he flipped them over so that he was now on top of her.   
“What was that you said about the upper hand again?” He teased.  
“No no no no no you don’t have to this; it’s not even a fair fight-” Whatever she was trying to say was hushed by gales of laughter has he tickled her mercilessly relishing the sound.   
“Please… No more I can’t breathe.” She gasped between laughter. Tears were pouring down her face as she continued to laugh while begging for him to stop. Deciding that he had won their little war he relinquished and rolled off of her flopping onto his back in the grass beside her. He stared up at the sky as she caught her breath. He heard her sit up and her face obscured his view of the evening sky as she leaned over him again.   
“You didn’t win.” She stated sitting up properly smiling as she stared ahead. He sat up and looked at her quizzically.   
“Of course I did, I had you pinned in the end.”  
“Okay.”  
“What does that mean?”  
“It means I win” She repeated as she stood dusting herself off. He followed as they made there way across the sizable yard.   
“Granger what are you on about? I clearly won” He cried as they took the steps up the deck.   
“Aren’t you hungry Draco?” She asked stopping by the door.   
“I guess, but hat does that have to do with anything-” He stopped short looking into the house seeing movement in the kitchen through the glass door. She snickered as he continued to watch.   
“When will you learn that while you’re playing checkers that I’m playing chess?”   
“It’s dinner time.” He mumbled looking down at her.   
“Ready for that game of 20 questions now?”  
“You don’t think they’ll actually make me stay do you? I mean I could just tell them politely that I have to go.” She nodded at him doubtfully 

“Yeah, that should work” She remarked sarcastically.   
“Granger, I cannot do this right now, I’m just going to nicely tell your mother that I don’t want to intrude on your family dinner, and I’ll be on my way. He smoothed his close preparing to go inside and announce his departure.   
“You two come wash up for dinner.” A deep voice said over the door opening. Draco looked up and found himself rendered speechless. See, Lucius Malfoy was scary, but not in the same way as Hermione’s father was. What Lucius lacked in stature he made up for with his sharp tongue and cold demeanor. Wendell Granger was a rather tall and large man. Draco remembered always thinking this, but he’d thought it was because he was 11 and five foot two. Now 17 standing at almost six feet tall at seemed as if the man before him had only grown. Clearing his throat, he nodded quickly.   
“Yes sir.” He said abandoning all plans of trying to escape the inevitable dinner. He gave a single nod eyeing Draco wearily before heading in the house leaving the pair of teens alone on the porch. He looked over at Hermione only to see her smirking at him. She took a step toward him stopping when there face was only a few inches apart.  
“Check mate.” She said before turning and walking into the house. He stood stunned for a few moments trying to comprehend what was happening.   
“Son of a bitch” He muttered smirking as he shook his head slightly and crossed the threshold.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading! Please leave critiques I would love to know what I could improve on


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